


Blood and Love

by GayDemonicDisaster (scrapheapchallenge)



Series: Protection [6]
Category: Odessa (Goddess) - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - American Gods Fusion, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Good Omens Fusion, Alternate Universe - Vampire, American Gods Inspired, American Gods References, F/F, F/M, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Gen, Genderfluid, Genderfluid Character, Genderqueer, Genderqueer Character, Goddesses, Good Omens References, Half-Vampires, Homophobia, Human/Vampire Relationship, Hunted Vampires, M/M, Multi, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Other, Pansexual Character, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Queer Themes, Vampire Hunters, Vampire Sex, Vampires, also Good Omens is even more loosely linked, because reasons, makes sense when you read Protection, ok so American Gods is only loosely linked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:20:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapheapchallenge/pseuds/GayDemonicDisaster
Summary: The backstory/prequel/origin story of the vampire goddess. Sometimes known as Odessa, here known by a different name, over a decade before she met Ineffable Husbands Aziraphale and Crowley in the events of “Protection” (NSFW version here:NSFW Protection) and “Hunting Ealing.” ( here:Hunting Ealing)I’ve written about the Goddess a few times over the years since the 1990s, but never so comprehensively. This includes references to her previous backstory. It also contains her lover Sean’s backstory, that might make people view him a little differently, he’s more complex than people would assume from his previous appearance. It is very NSFW.
Relationships: Morgan/Sean, Morgan/Sean/Sullana, Odessa/Sean, Phil/Sean, Sullana/Graham, Sullana/Sean
Series: Protection [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534649
Comments: 36
Kudos: 7





	1. The Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> This fic includes characters who are cisgender, gender fluid, gay, bi/pansexual and polyamorous. There is straight sex, gay sex, queer sex, 3-way with a gender fluid AFAB person, cis femme and cis masc. Please, please if you notice I’ve messed up someone’s pronouns anywhere, let me know, likewise if you feel I’ve made any mistakes regarding other aspects, let me know so I can rectify it. There is, naturally blood and violence – vampires are involved. There are hints regarding body dysmorphia from a genderfluid character, but nothing too deep. Please let me know if you feel there are additional tags that I might have forgotten that this could benefit from.

In which we meet the Goddess, she of many names

Why Him?  
  
She’d told herself after the last time, no more humans. Too complicated. But then getting involved with supernatural beings was complicated too. It didn’t matter what type of being you got involved with, it was always complicated. So why resist? Why not just go with it. At least with humans they’d die eventually of old age and became nothing more than history. Not so easy if you tangled with other immortal or semi-immortal entities, or worse, took a human and allowed them to _become_ a semi immortal being too. That was the worst idea. But given the choice of an eternity of loneliness or the repeated brief dalliances with enamoured humans, well… eternity was a long time to spend with nothing but your own company.

The worst idea had been John. So many years ago. Love had turned into mutual hatred, and she’d been idiot enough to grant him immortality of a sort. Not a mistake she was apt to make again. She sighed, gazing from her perch atop the factory roof on the industrial estate down at the lights of the workshop below as the mechanics started shunting cars around, parking them indoors for the night, securing everything and locking up, letting the dogs out in the yard, setting alarms. She saw him, young, lean, handsome, dark haired, dark eyed, loping around the yard, deftly catching a set of car keys flung to him by one of his employees, firing up the engine of an XR3i and tyre squealing it across the parking lot. If she was going to do this, she was going to have to set boundaries. There was no doubt she wanted to, and so did he. She’d resisted but couldn’t keep on resisting.

Her current corporeal form appeared to be in her thirties, about 6 foot tall, not skinny but well-muscled on a strong frame, long legs, powerful thighs, well-shaped calves, slim ankles, muscular biceps and strong forearms, sinewy hands with lean fingers. Her face bore high well defined cheekbones and straight unremarkable nose. Her hair was long and a medley of brunette, auburn and gold, her eyes a curious shift between green, grey and blue depending on the lighting conditions, clear and piercing straight into your soul. Her chest was a little over abundant, and her bearing upright and confident, projecting absolute self-certainty.

She generally wore nondescript dark clothing. Black jeans, a shirt or t-shirt, black cowboy boots or similar, no designer labels or flashy accoutrements. No jewellery, watch or accessories. When she smiled, her canines were just slightly, disconcertingly longer than average, but not excessively so unless she forgot herself. When roused, her fangs grew wickedly sharp, her nails morphed into cruel claws, and her eyes would burn with golden flames.

She was a goddess, a little unusual as deities go. She wasn’t worshipped by humans, at least so few even knew of her existence as to be immaterial. If the odd one here and there knew of her and actually chose to worship her, they could be safely dismissed as a statistical anomaly. No. The creatures who gave her existence and power didn’t so much worship her as fear her in a way that was just as good – either one was belief. A mixture of terror, fear, and need, plus entreaties to leave them alone was just as powerful as any other kind of worship. She had no name, a name is power and uttering it might draw her attention, her _unwanted_ attention, so they would refer to her simply as The Goddess, or “My Lady”. She’d had names, sure, but they were fleeting things, chosen in the moment for one purpose or another. She might carry a name or two for a few weeks, years or at most, centuries, but that was too long. She’d drop them as needed before the name drew too much power. Names could change you.

In the early days, millennia ago, she’d danced with other deities, been briefly linked with other beings aligned with her own type, but that only drew complications. Once you became linked with another god, the humans began taking notice – you’d get legends, scriptures, oral histories that named stars or constellations after you, tied you as “Lover to the great God _____” and suddenly you were a planet in a celestial dance with another for a few thousand years, until those humans died out and their tales with them, and another set renamed those same planets after a new god, and you were mercifully forgotten. Their belief in what you are could change you given enough time. Belief shapes the god.

Anubis had been her longest allegiance. He was probably the closest modern deity to align with what she was. A god of death and graveyards made a good match. She said modern – in the older days, prior to Gilgamesh and Uruk, there had been others, but now even she forgot some of those names. Dead gods, long forgotten, become small gods – just whispers of memories floating in the desert for eternity – no power, no form, no belief.

Anubis wasn’t dead – he had come close, but still clung on, just. They’d parted on good terms. Last she heard he was over in America somewhere. He’d changed physical corporations several times, he wasn’t still the young, virile creature she’d known back in Egypt, he was matured, but still cordial when they crossed paths. Sometimes they’d share some affection for old time’s sake, but they’d grown apart. Her fling with Bast had soured their relationship somewhat.

In the past thousand years or so, The Goddess had instead sated her desires with creatures who were not gods. Occasionally with supernatural beings, like her own worshippers, but even that led to difficult situations, and often bloodshed that she’d rather avoid. So humans filled the gap. In the grand scheme of things, a lifetime’s relationship with a human wasn’t much more than the equivalent to a one night stand for an immortal, but no less fun for it.

She was the Goddess of vampires. She did not feed on humans. She preyed on the undead themselves. Kept their numbers in check and their behaviour in line. She knew who was naughty and nice. She’d drink from those who behaved and leave them alive (or at least, still undead), but any who stepped out of line would be destroyed permanently. They would, rarely, call on her for help, and make sacrifice of one of their own to appease her, a tactic which may or may not work depending on the situation. Sometimes they’d attempt to destroy one of their own kind that they disliked by offering them up as a sacrifice to their Goddess, only for her to refuse the sacrifice and choose her own from the assembled creatures. Calling upon her for aid was a double edged sword – she was just as apt to destroy you as help you.

But deep down, every vampire secretly yearned for her touch. It was a thing of honour and ecstasy for her to feed from you. And the older ones, weary of hundreds or thousands of years of unfulfilling existence, may eventually seek out her final embrace and the comfort of oblivion it brought.

So it had all begun, several weeks ago. She’d scented out a group of kindred – the name the vampires used amongst themselves, and followed them, stalking from a distance, following their progress from the rooftops with a fluid ease of movement and defiance of gravity that the most ardent parkour athlete would envy. The chase was one of the parts that she enjoyed most, even her humanoid corporation could feel a rush of adrenaline and she fed on it. But the best was when she purposefully allowed them to sense her approach, let slip little noises and glimpses of herself on the edge of their vision, or allowed them a brief scent or just _feeling_ of her presence by pushing her aura out slightly at them – it prodded their fear and that fear was part of what fed her. It tingled up her spine in waves of power as their belief filled her aura anew.

Then the closer she got, the more she’d allow their fear to build, and the more her power grew. But it was when she appeared in front of them that it built exponentially, and peaked as she fed, not just from whichever she had seized, but simultaneously from any watching. The blood was more powerful still, and if she drank them dry, their very soul came with it, and that could power her for years if need be.

So she followed the group, feeling their fear washing over her as she closed in. There were four of them: three quite young neonates with one older woman, probably about half a century, no more. The older one was educating the neonates, showing them the correct etiquette for hunting in another’s territory with permission. She approved, but was still hungry and in the mood for a little draught from one or all of them. Leaving them alive of course. But something interrupted her. Some _one_.


	2. Here comes Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone’s arse needs saving. It is a cute arse, however*.
> 
> *yes, he looks similar to Peter Vincent from Fright Night.

The group in the empty car park below were frozen. They had been able to sense something amiss for the past ten minutes or so and it had them on edge. None had met the Goddess before. They weren’t educated on her existence per se, but each was created with an innate understanding of her. If they ever came face to face with her they’d understand immediately who they were looking at by instinct alone. But for now they just knew something was wrong.

Before the Goddess could close in on them however, someone else did. A lanky figure stepped into the glow of a streetlight at the edge of the car park. He was in his mid-20s, a smidgen under 6 feet tall. His hair was short at the sides and a little longer on top just flopping over his eyes, dark brown, almost black, and messy. Lean with a wiry musculature, sharp features and aquiline nose, dark brown eyes rimmed in black eyeliner. His clothing was dark, functional and slightly scruffy. Slim fitting black jeans torn at the knees, black t-shirt and ¾ length black leather jacket. There were glimpses of tattoos here and there at the edges of his clothing. He wore short black leather boots, and his hands showed the ground-in black grease of someone who worked hard with their hands.

All four kindred immediately focussed on the wiry human, unsure if this was what had been causing their unease. The stake in his hand giving them immediate pause for thought. The Goddess, gazing down at the entire tableau laid out below her groaned in frustration. Idiot human. Four against one, he was a goner. Some stupid wannabe vampire hunter taking on FOUR undead on his own? How had he even FOUND them?

He lounged against the lamp post and tossed the stake idly in one hand with a cocky insouciance. “Ladies… gentlemen… What a pleasure to make your acquaintance this evening. Tell me, who wants to go first?” He grinned at them. Bloody hell the idiot human had balls of steel. One of the neonates stepped forward. She was tall, slim, redheaded, and green-eyed with a strong jaw and narrow nose, incongruously dressed in a short pink dress as if she was going out clubbing. Most undead don’t dress at all like humans would expect them to – very few would go all gothic, it was too obvious and cliché. They favoured a style that didn’t set them apart from the humans they hunted. This one looked as if she was in her 20s, regardless of her actual age. She grinned and approached.

“You see this stake?” the human asked, looking her in the eye. She nodded, half smiling, knowing her reflexes were fast enough to dodge a feeble human’s attempt to get her. “Good” he said. “Because you’re not getting _this_ one”. His other hand swung out lightning fast from under his jacket wielding a crossbow loaded with another stake and pulled the trigger before the redhead had time to react to the unexpected change in circumstances. It nailed her through the heart and she burst into flame, immolating in seconds before falling into glowing embers that collapsed into a pile of ash that blew away on the wind.

One of the other neonates ran away at that point, but that still left the other, a well-built Jamaican guy apparently in his 40s, and the mature vampire, who looked Indian, and appeared to be in her 30s but in reality was half a century past that. She grabbed the other neonate’s arm to restrain him from any rash moves. “Jacob, wait…” Jacob stilled, watchful. The human used a quick re-draw lever on the pistol crossbow then slotted the other stake he held into place, aiming it at the pair before him. “So who wants to go next?”

The Goddess cringed. She could feel the power spike building from the elder kindred, she was about to mind control the human then it’d be all over, the guy didn’t know what he was up against. Sure enough his eyes went wide and his jaw went slack as the elder’s power hit him, the point of the crossbow tipping down toward the ground as he froze. _Shit_. The Goddess jumped down.

She landed square in front of the elder, breaking her concentration, and her hold on the human. The neonate Jacob had already started towards him, and to his credit, the human recovered quickly once the power control was dropped against him, he raised the crossbow and loosed the bolt into the neonate’s heart at almost point blank range, despatching him in a gout of flame. He fumbled for another stake from his belt, The Goddess stood between him and the elder, her back to the human, facing down the frozen vampire.

She extended her right hand quick as a snakebite, long cruel claws sinking deep into the vampire’s neck, drew her close, and brought her lips to the elder’s neck, and sunk in her own fangs deep, taking a long deep draught, as the vampire shuddered and emitted an obscene moan of ecstasy at the orgasmic sensation coursing through her body. The Goddess took a few more gulps, feeling the intense power of belief rising up through her body from the vampire, and dropped her to the ground, still alive, but unconscious. This one had been doing the right thing before the human intervened – she deserved to live.

She turned to face the human. He was standing, shaking, scared, the crossbow levelled at her heart. “What the fuck did you just do?” he demanded, his voice straining to keep steady. She looked at him levelly. He was handsome in an odd sort of way that immediately grabbed her deepest instincts and piqued her interest. “Saved your arse, you’re welcome.” She drawled. He didn’t move the crossbow. She sighed.

“You realise that staking a vampire through the heart kills them. But likewise, staking a human through the heart ALSO kills them. I mean it’s pretty deadly all round. So, how much do you want to potentially start a career as a serial killer this evening?”

He shot her.

She looked down at the stake protruding from her chest over her heart, then looked up at him, head tipped, one eye brow raised questioningly. “Really?”

She sighed and pulled the stake out before tossing it over her shoulder. “And then there’s the 3rd option, that the person you just staked is neither vampire _nor_ human, and all it’ll do is piss them off.”

She reached out and plucked the crossbow from his hands, then crushed the wood to splinters in one hand. “You just ruined a perfectly good t-shirt. But it’s late, you’re cute, there’s still another bloody neonate running around out there and you’re all out of stakes by the looks of it, so I’ll see you home.”

The human blinked at her, unsure.  
“…Cute?” He looked baffled.  
“Yeah. You’ve got a certain something, you look better alive than dead, that’s for sure. What’s your name?”  
“S… Sean. Sean Blackmoore”  
She nodded, and thought a moment.  
“… Sullana. Pleased to meet you. No, I’m not a vampire.”  
“What _are_ you?”  
She looked at him and shrugged. He shivered, inexplicably. “The person who just saved your arse. You got a lift home?”  
He nodded, then inclined his head to the far side of the dark car park at a black Opel Manta A GT/E parked in the far corner.  
Sullana nodded approvingly. “Nice. Retro, I like it.” She started walking toward it, her movements precise and powerful like a predator stalking through the grass. He gazed at her hips as she walked away from him, then jolted into action and ran a few steps to catch up.

“What’d you do to that vampire?”  
“She’s unconscious. She doesn’t warrant killing, she wasn’t doing anything wrong.”  
“ _Wrong_? She’s a _vampire_ ” he protested.  
Sullana nodded. “And you’re a human, humans do awful things, war, genocide, you name it, should all of you die as well?”  
He looked thoroughly confused and couldn’t find a reply.  
“Quite.” She flung him a glance, making him shiver again. She carried on walking toward the Manta, then circled it approvingly, taking in the gleaming bodywork and shining alloys. “Nice job.”  
“Uh, thanks. I did the respray myself”  
She nodded. “Flawless. Might put some business your way.”  
Professional pride eclipsed his other feelings at that point and he grinned.  
“I like the orange side stripes, very 70s.”  
“Yeah, I painted them rather than use vinyls”   
“1.9 Cam In Head?”  
Sean nodded “Black magic edition, tweaked it a bit too, mind.”  
She turned to him, her gaze met his and his spine felt like it melted down his body. She grinned.  
“Take me for a ride?”  
He nodded, wordlessly, utterly entranced. She smiled, like the cat who got the cream.


	3. Full Throttle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean learns how to worship a Goddess

As he gunned the throttle down the bypass, he couldn’t help but let his gaze occasionally slide across to the apparition in his passenger seat. It was a German spec car so left hand drive, she sat on his right and he resisted the strangely strong urge to reach out and lay his hand on her delicious thigh. He glimpsed at her profile, eyes wandering down the luscious curves of her body, and reluctantly tore his gaze back to the road again. After the roundabout, the engine having warmed up sufficiently, he stomped down hard on the throttle and let it rip, a quick glance to the right taking in her wide grin at the acceleration as he powered up through the gears rapidly, almost redlining in each one. She laughed and that smile lit up like a thousand watt bulb as he looked across at him, lighting his loins on fire in an instant. Oh _fuck_ she was hot. In the moment he forgot that he’d tried to kill her not 15 minutes earlier. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but whenever he tried to focus on it, it slipped form his grasp. He gave up.

After another 20 minutes they pulled up outside his house, a regular semi-detached ex council house with small garden at the front, driveway and larger garden at the back mostly given over to several cars in various states of repair, some under cover, some not, and a double garage in the rear corner that hinted at more treasures inside. She gazed around with interest. “Can I take a look?”  
“Sure”  
She hopped out of the Manta and stalked around the vehicles eagerly, running light fingers over the curves of a later Opel Manta Irmscher Dakar i200 edition, taking in a partially rebuilt series III land rover, a couple of 1980s defenders, a 130 defender crew cab shell evidently being worked on, and a Vauxhall Astra mk2 GTE.

Sean followed behind, entranced by her interest in his passion, as he pointed out details here and there that she might have missed. She nodded eagerly, smiling widely. She paused near the series III and turned to face him, seeing his proud expression. He stared back into her eyes, lost but thrilled at her interest. A moment of silence passed between them, before he was reaching forward hesitantly to touch her face. She tipped her head on one side questioningly, smiling and not breaking eye contact. He couldn’t help himself, and closed in to kiss her, pressing her back against the land rover, one hand in her long hair, the other on her waist. She collapsed into his embrace contentedly.

“Oh god, you’re gorgeous” he breathed into her neck as he broke off. She chuckled gently “Goddess, but thanks.” He laughed, not realising her meaning. “Would you like to come in?” She nodded and allowed him to lead the way.

The house was the typical random mess of a bachelor, with random car parts scattered around the house as well, toolboxes, alloy wheels, and a soldering iron and mat on the kitchen counter next to some electrical components under repair. He apologised awkwardly and made a half-hearted attempt to tidy some things away, but she stopped him with a kiss. “Leave it. I don’t care.” He nodded “Drink?” She shook her head. “Not for me thanks. You go ahead.” He grinned “Only thirsty for you right now”, and winked at her. She responded with a slow, satisfied smile that did dreadful things deep inside his body and woke his lust with a jolt. That damned smile was capable of reducing a grown man to a puddle of molten mess in seconds.

Unable to resist, he pressed her against the wall in a crushing kiss, fierce and passionate, hands running all over her body in desperation. She broke off and grinned at him, grabbing at his jacket, sliding it off his shoulders, then at his t-shirt to peel it off him and cast it aside. She kicked her boots off in the hall, and lifted her own shirt off. He pressed himself back against her, grinding his hips against hers, his need hard against her crotch, his breath hard on her neck as he kissed hard and hot, hands massaging her breasts through her black bra, then wandering down to rub at her crotch through her jeans. He licked up her neck and nibbled at her ear, breathing ragged. “I need you” he whispered in her ear. “You’ve got me” she responded. “What do you want to do with me now you’ve got me?” He shook his head, not knowing what he wanted first. “Everything…. Everything… oh god….” She laughed and looked pointedly at the stairs. He nodded, and led the way.

She could feel waves of power emanating from Sean as he worshipped her divine form inside his own head. He struggled out of his jeans then pulled at hers in frustration. She slid them down and off, and he dropped to his knees at her feet, kissing her abdomen and down to the black fabric of her panties, whilst she drank in his adoration like a fine wine. He looked up at her questioningly, his hands on her underwear, seeking permission. She smiled and nodded, and he worked them down off the curves of her hips, over the muscles of her thighs and off, before resuming his kisses.

She unhooked her bra and dropped it on the floor, and he rose up to grasp her breasts in both hands in silent wonder, massaging their heavy softness, and laying a frenzied trail of kisses over both of them. “Oh god, you’re perfect, perfect, oh… I could worship you all night…” She lifted his chin and gazed into his brown eyes. “So worship me.” And kissed him, reaching deep into his soul. His cock ached with its hardness and he hurriedly slid his boxers off. He felt her hand questing down between them to stroke it gently and his hips stuttered in an uncoordinated response that he had no control over, as he moaned in desperation. “It’s ok” she reassured him. “I can’t get pregnant anyway, and I’m safe.” He nodded, eyes tightly closed against the pleasure she was giving him with her hand already. “I’m clean too, you ok with that?” She nodded and kissed him hard in reply. “Fuck me.”

He edged her over toward the bed and encouraged her to lay back on it. She gazed up at him waiting to see what he’d do, as he gazed down at her, enraptured. She squirmed as she felt the waves of worship rolling off his body, fuelling her deliciously. He dropped to all fours on the bed, and brought himself up to kiss her slowly, then kissed his way down the curves of her torso, until his fingers were stroking at her vulva, gently seeking entrance, feeling her wetness before probing deeper, drawing the lubrication up to her clit and working it in little gentle circles, making her writhe under his touch.

His fingers delved deeper, and noticing that she grabbed at her own breasts as he did so, he used his other hand to assist. “You can worship my tits too” she whispered at him, so he did. He licked and teased her nipples and delighted to hear her moan deeply and squirm in his grasp. She reached down with one hand to rub at his cock as far as she could reach, her touch electric on his skin. “I can’t wait, I need you” she groaned, trying to pull him closer. He withdrew his fingers and kissed her deeply. He positioned himself between her legs and pushed forward gently. The tip of his cock just parting her labia when both of her hands grabbed his arse in frustration and pulled him forward with a ferocity that caught him off balance and buried him to the hilt inside her, wresting a gasp from her lips and his at once.

He held himself on his elbows and forearms where he could still lick and suck at her nipples as he thrust into her slowly, rolling his hips against hers setting a steady pace that allowed him maximum penetration and control, whilst her hips rocked up against his just as keenly in a delicious dance together.

It had taken iron will to resist taking the lead. Humans were too fragile to cope with a deity’s lust all at once, especially at first. They were too easy to break. She had forced herself to submit. After this maybe she could work up to it to finally sate her desires fully. For now she enjoyed his almost tender lovemaking, encouraging him with keen moans and fingers digging into his hard flesh, heels behind his buttocks, pulling him deeper, moving him faster, trying desperately to keep her form under control and not allow her nails to become claws that could rend at his fragile flesh. The worst bit was resisting biting, her most primal instinct in arousal.

Every touch was fire, and a deeper connection than the human could realise – with each touch of his skin she could feel what he felt, read his thoughts and feel his emotions, experience what he was at the same time, and she used it to her advantage, moving her body in the ways that she could feel he enjoyed the most, drawing it out, granting him more pleasure than he’d ever experienced before, a voiceless intuitiveness that no human partner could ever hope to emulate. She felt his shudders as her own, felt his orgasm building which set off a chain reaction in herself as she shared the sensations simultaneously, the hot liquid heat in the core of his being building like a volcano. He was grasping at her, whining with need, growling, hissing desire he couldn’t bring coherence to, couldn’t enunciate except with his body and his very being, losing control, losing coordination, losing every sense save for the primal need of release into his partner, an instinct older than his species.

Her own body responded in kind, shivering, quivering deep in her muscles, in her very centre, tense, climbing, holding, tight, gripping, shaking, breaths shuddering and hands clawing at hot skin until it cascaded over her like a tsunami, enveloping the human in her arms in its intensity as he exploded deep inside her, pulsing and twitching, breath ragged, his head dropping to the crook of her neck where it met her shoulder, breathing hard, laying soft kisses on her skin, insensible. He closed his eyes and let his bodyweight fall on hers, relishing the sensation of their bodies making contact in as many places as possible, holding her tight as if she might escape. She stroked his back gently as he came down and his hammering heart eased its frenetic pace.

Despite still being in physical contact, she made a conscious effort to release her mental link, and at the same time released the subtle entrancement she’d used to distract him earlier. Humans freaked out too easily when faced with things that were too big to comprehend, and to protect his sanity she’d diverted his train of thought from what he’d seen her do to the elder vampire, rendering him unable to fully grasp the thought again whenever he’d tried to focus on it.

His head shot up. “What the _fuck_?” She continued to stroke him soothingly. The afterglow was the perfect way to ease him into things. “Still not a vampire” she reassured him. “I’m on your side, sometimes I kill them too, but not always. I’m not one of them.” His eyes were wide, but with his cock still buried deep within her, and her limbs wrapped around his body, he didn’t have many options save to accept her ministrations and reassurances. She ran her fingers through his hair and down to the nape of his neck, drawing delicious slow circles on the sensitive skin there, sending shivers down his spine. He closed his eyes and arched his head back to the contact, as she reached up and gently kissed his throat. He groaned and looked down at her again. “What are you?”

“Sweetheart, you just fucked a goddess.”  
His mind and expression went blank, then he barked a short laugh. “Yeah, but really?”  
She nodded, serious. “Really.”  
He was speechless.  
She pulled him down into a deep kiss, and allowed the truth of the knowledge to transfer through the contact, showing him the reality in little glimpses his human mind could comprehend, removing his doubt.  
He gasped as she broke contact, and she felt his heart hammering in his chest again. He wriggled and she allowed him to disentangle himself from her, collapsing on his back next to her, breathing hard.  
“Holy fuck”  
“More or less” she smiled at him.  
“I….” He gave up, stunned into silence, staring at the ceiling.  
He heard the sheets rustle as she moved next to him, the bed moving as she shifted position.

Then suddenly her lips were around his cock, licking their juices off him decadently, he looked down at the mess of auburn and gold hair cascading over his hips from her head, then her intense green eyes met his under her perfect brows, the most devilishly hungry look in that expression and despite his recent release, somehow he felt himself hardening again. He couldn’t regain the power of speech, and realised he didn’t need to. It was her turn to worship _him_. He lay back and let it happen.

Her tongue was nothing less than wicked, too knowing of his anatomy, too understanding of what he needed. She was using her link again to give him exactly what his body craved – the perfect pressure, the tension of her lips around his shaft, the speed and flicks of her tongue, the movements of her hand at the base of his shaft, the depth, the speed, the wetness, it was all more perfect than he’d ever experienced in his life. She knew she was good at this, the best. The one limitation of her corporation was that she couldn’t swallow. Nothing but blood could pass her lips, but there were other ways to deal with that.

She brought him higher in sweet torment, hearing his whimpers of urgent need as he came closer from her attentions, then abruptly released him and slithered up his body, bringing her hips over his and lowering herself down onto his stiff shaft, impaling herself in one smooth, slick movement and riding him with rocking and circling hips, writhing above him, as his hands came up to caress her breasts, his own hips rolling up to meet hers, the flood of worship emanated up from his body to hers in invisible waves and she _glowed_. Her eyes began to shine and then turned to golden flames. His jaw dropped at the sight, but his hips were on autopilot, he had no control over his body any more as she rode him determinedly to new heights of pleasure and drew his orgasm out in a thrashing cascade of intensity, spurting deep inside the Goddess again “Sullana, Sullana, Sullana...” he cried her name in desperation, hands hard on her hips, pulling her close, sobbing in his sweet release.

She blinked and the flames disappeared, her eyes were green once again, but no less intense. She bent down to kiss him again. “Thank you, Sean” she whispered into his ear after she broke contact. “Uh, don’t mention it” he managed, his mind still whirling. She dismounted and lay next to him, then wriggled closer so that her head lay on his chest, as her hand stroked the curls of the small patch of hair she found there. His body was so lean, so hard, all wiry muscles and hard bones. She kissed his chest and he shivered, goose bumps breaking out over his body. One hand came over to stroke her hair. “…wow.” He managed, weakly. Her touch was soothing and he couldn’t help drifting off to sleep.


	4. Morgan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet one of Sean’s other loves.

By morning she was gone. He cast about, lost, bereft, but there was no sign of her, well almost no sign. Just as he was beginning to think it had all been some elaborate wet dream he found her panties left behind, kicked under his jeans, she presumably hadn’t been able to find them. He hadn’t even got her damn _number_. He slapped his own forehead in frustration.

It was Sunday morning, he sighed and grabbed some axle stands then went out to work on the 130. He was underneath it on a crawler board when he heard the rumble of Morgan’s imported Australian Holden Monaro Ute pull up, it’s V8 burbling down the street, and grinned. He had his hands full of exhaust bracket however, so until he’d done the bolts up he couldn’t move. He heard the door slam, then a polite cough and gentle hands on his ankles, sliding up to his knees and thighs. “One minute, love” he hissed through gritted teeth as he ratcheted up the last fixing. “Ok.” Firm hands grabbed his legs and rolled him out from under the car on the crawler board, a broad smile welcoming him, haloed against the morning sun. “Hi, gorgeous.”

Morgan was gender fluid, with short spiky black hair and blue eyes, androgynous today, well-muscled but not at all fat – they worked out daily and were well built, with a constant easy smile and strong jaw. They reached down and kissed Sean deeply. “You smell like sex, love, get lucky last night?” Sean grinned. “Yup.” “Who were they, anyone I know? Anyone I’d like? Anyone you’d care to share?” Morgan winked salaciously. Sean laughed. “Femme, no, yes, maybe.”

Morgan giggled “Shall I put the kettle on then you can tell me all about them?” Sean nodded. He was pansexual, and in an open polyamorous relationship with Morgan, as well as Phil. Phil wasn’t interested in actively sharing, but Morgan was keen to find a third they could both enjoy at the same time. They both kept an eye out for the perfect person, it wasn’t something that could be rushed. If it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen, but if it did, well…

Sean entered the kitchen to the delicious scent of frying bacon as Morgan made them some very welcome bacon butties. “So were you out playing Van Helsing again last night?” said with a wry grin. Sean sighed. “Yeah. Might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew though, love.” Morgan looked up sharply “You ok?” Sean swallowed some hot, sweet tea and nodded. “Yeah. Might have been a bit of divine intervention though. Had a little help.” Morgan looked at him as they buttered the bread for the sarnies. “Was this your score then?” Sean pulled a face “don’t call her that, love.” Morgan looked contrite “sorry. What happened then?” They slid a plate across the table, Sean took a seat and tucked in happily. Chewed, swallowed.

“There were four of them. Took one down, one ran, then the third did something to me. I lost all control, couldn’t move, till someone interrupted, distracted her, she lost her hold on me, the fourth was charging at me but I got that one at the last moment. That someone, she came from nowhere, grabbed the bitch who’d mind-manipulated me, and … stopped her.” Sean paused, and took another bite of the bacon sandwich. “What’d she do?” Morgan pressed. Sean thought, chewing, then shrugged. “Knocked her unconscious I guess. It was all a bit of a blur.” He took a swallow of tea. “She’s a petrolhead too.” Morgan grinned, approvingly. “That’s a good start. What’s she look like?”

Sean finished the sandwich, considering. “Amazing, tall, beautiful, curves, oh curves for days…” He shook his head appreciatively. “Green eyes, long hair, golden, not blonde, well, bits of blonde, but kind of brown-gold mostly. Big tits. Wouldn’t fit in your binder, love.” Morgan grinned. “Speaking of, need a new one, this one’s wearing out, rubbing something terrible, making me sore.” Sean smiled sympathetically. “I’ll buy you a new one love, send me a link to what you want, anything for you.” Morgan stood and stepped around the table to press a kiss to Sean’s head, fondly. “You’re wonderful, you know that?” Sean tipped his head back and kissed Morgan gently. “So you keep telling me, gorgeous. Thanks for the brekkie.”

Morgan set about washing up. “So did she know it was an undead?” Sean nodded, but wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of an actual deity, so skirted around it instead. Morgan knew about vampires, had come with him on a hunt once, and knew the reality of them. Knew why Sean was obsessed with obliterating them, understood the fire that drove him. But other supernatural stuff? Hell it had been hard enough for _him_ to understand, let alone to put into words for someone else.

“Yeah, she knew, she’s had experience of them too, knew what to do. She asked me to take her for a ride afterwards.” Morgan grinned, “didn’t scare her did you?” Sean shook his head firmly. “Hell no, she enjoyed it. Brought her back here…” Morgan snorted. “You _what_? HERE? It’s a fucking mess!” Sean nodded “sorry, yeah, she didn’t seem to care though, we had other stuff on our minds.” He winked, suggestively. “She good?” Sean grinned widely. “Hell yeah. Blew my fucking mind.” Morgan laughed. Just me, Jennie, and a hitachi last night, plenty fun still. But maybe we’d better get this place cleaned up in case you get a second date with this lass eh? What’s her name anyway?”

Sean finished his tea. “Sullana.”

Morgan shrugged with their face. “She English?”   
  
Sean shrugged – "sounds it, but your guess is as good as mine. Right, lets clean up I guess, can you grab those minilite wheels and fling them in the shed for me? Mike will be coming over for them at some point anyway, they don’t need to be in here.”

The goddess may not have left her number behind, but she had left something else, as Sean had piqued her interest. A simple bite of the lip before one of many kisses had been enough to slip him a tiny droplet of her own blood as a supernatural tracking device so she’d always be able to find him no matter where he was. It was autumn and the nights were drawing in early as she followed her instincts, driving toward an industrial estate in the West London area. The tug felt stronger the closer she got. There were other sensations, from vampires she’d marked before in the area, but if she concentrated on just one she could follow that thread to its origin.

When the sensation got stronger she parked up, the dark green, almost black Vauxhall Lotus Carlton she drove not just far too obvious visually for any car fanatic to spot at a hundred paces, but the distinctive sound of its 6 litre twin turbocharged engine would be picked up by anyone with an ear for such things, and she didn’t want to draw attention just yet. She parked it at the back of a car park filled with night shifters for a nearby unit, and walked the rest of the way.

With no jewellery, watch, or shine to her clothing, she embraced the shadows and slunk away from the street lights, the sudden sound of an industrial air compressor down the next road informed her choice, and the distinctive noises of impact wrenches told her that was likely where she’d find the mechanic. She spied the unit near the end of the street, and eyed the nearby buildings for a suitable vantage point. The next door building was a small disused factory, she climbed the chain-link fence with ease and nimbly climbed the building, heading for the corner of the shallow roof nearest to the garage, observing the staff through the open doors in the brightly lit interior.

The Goddess observed quietly, noting the lean shape of Sean as he stalked across the garage, swinging a torque wrench, before passing it to a colleague with an easy smile. She paused for a moment, what name had she given him anyway? Temporarily at a loss. She didn’t really have a name, she picked one here and there as needed, sometimes re-using an old one. She remembered, oh yes, Sullana. She flinched inwardly. What had made her pick that one? She hoped it wasn’t a bad omen, she’d used that one with a human before, a long time ago. A sigh. You can’t change the past.

So… why him? Her first impression of him had been as an idiot who’d taken on way more than he could handle. Why was he getting involved with the undead? She’d tried to feel for that answer at her first touch of his skin, but it was curiously locked down, just a sense of burning rage and hurt was all she could discern. But he had fire in there. And along with an enormous appetite for all the sins of lust, a tenderness and capacity for love that extended far beyond what most people could appreciate. He had more to share than he knew what to do with, there was a nurturing, caring, protective instinct in there, a tenderness, she felt glimpses of what he shared with his other lovers, and wanted to experience some for herself. He was… _interesting_. Worth exploring. And damn it all, she was _curious_.

Plus, as a bonus, he was already familiar with the concept of supernatural beings, so she would, refreshingly, not have to conceal that aspect of herself and waste mental energy with endless half-truths and deceit. She could relax a little, enjoy herself, _be_ herself with him perhaps. She watched him catch the thrown car keys and fire up the XR3i to re-park it as they began to lock up for the night. It had been 3 days. She’d drop by tomorrow and see how things looked.


	5. Phil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet the other of Sean’s loves. Sean takes an interesting lunch break.

Phil leaned through the open car window of the ford focus as Sean flashed the codes on the laptop. He’d just finished telling his other lover about his weekend adventure. “Sounds hot” Phil commented. Sean had left out the supernatural parts for Phil, he was rather more pragmatic and didn’t believe in such nonsense as he’d think of it. He just told him that he’d met up with a hot car enthusiast the other night and taken her for a ride, or a couple of rides.

“Hey, can you pass me that torx head screwdriver, love?” Phil looked around blankly. Unlike Morgan, he wasn’t into cars in the slightest. “Yellow handle, just in front of you…” Phil found it and passed it through the window. “But you’ve not seen her since, then?” Sean grimaced as he fiddled in the interior. “’Fraid not” he commented, sadly. “Oh well, where there’s hope, eh?” Phil said, brightly, patting him on the shoulder. Sean flinched suddenly, not from Phil’s touch, but a curious tugging in the pit of his stomach, then over the clatter and general background din of the garage, his ears pricked up as he heard a distinctive engine sound. He stepped out of the car and looked across to the open door.

His eyes widened, appreciatively. “Holy fuck” he whispered, under his breath, when he spied not just the car, but who was driving it. The Lotus Carlton rumbled up the street and parked in front of the industrial unit that housed Sean’s garage business. “That’s her” he whispered sidelong to Phil, who whistled low under his breath as the Goddess stepped out of the dark, brutal looking 90s super saloon. One long leg emerged, clad in black skinny jeans that clung to every curve and muscle, ending in a black cowboy boot, and a tight black long sleeved t-shirt skimmed her torso. Phil was gay, not bi, but even he could appreciate a good looking woman for what she was, and could understand Sean’s attraction.

The junior apprentice, Mike, approached Sullana first, Sean hid his smile behind his hand as the teenaged lad gawked at the Goddess, swallowing and trying to find his words. “Uh.. Uh, hi, um, can I help you?” Sullana turned her million watt smile on the boy, and he froze to the spot, mouth open. Sean sympathised but couldn’t help but giggle quietly, Phil swiped at him in mock admonishment “behave, the poor kid’s lost for words.”

Sullana eased off on the smile slightly, having a little sympathy for the kid. “Yeah, think I need a new ABS sensor, the lights been coming on, it’s a known fault on them, but I need you to order one for me if you can?” Mike stammered. “Oh, yeah, right, right, uh, I’ll just go get the boss, can you hang on a minute?” She nodded and gazed about the garage with interest. Sean ducked behind the open door of the focus.

Mike scuttled over, a little breathless. Sean peeked his head above the door. “I heard lad, ABS sensor, go grab yourself a cuppa, I’ll deal with this one.” Mike nodded gratefully and headed to the break room. Sean stood up and waved at Sullana, who slunk over, hips saying more about her intent than any words could. Phil, standing next to Sean, grinned, and received a sharp bony elbow to the ribs in response, and a muttered “oi” under his breath. “Hi babe, didn’t think I’d see you again!” he winked. “Welcome to my garage, how’d you find it?” Sullana smiled. “Asked around, won’t you introduce me to your friend?” Sean nodded. “This is Phil, more than just a friend, we’re not, uh, exclusive, if you catch my drift.” The Goddess nodded and smiled, extending a hand. “Hi Phil, good to meet you, I’m Sullana.” They shook hands. “I can see why you grabbed his attention” Phil commented with a smirk. “Just you treat him right, ok? He’s a good lad.” Sullana laughed. “No problem, wouldn’t hurt him for the world.”

Phil rubbed his hands together. “Going to go grab us some lunch, love, want some sausage rolls?” Sean nodded. Phil turned to the Goddess, “anything for you, Sullana?” She shook her head. “No thanks, I’m good, nice to meet you.” She watched as he left. Phil was tall, about 6’4”, brown hair with deep blue eyes, in his late 30s or maybe early 40s, lean but not as skinny as Sean, rugged with greying hair beginning at his temples and short stubble on his face, favouring blue jeans and a lumberjack shirt, paired with longish hair tied back in a man bun. “He’s handsome” she observed drily. “You’re not his type, love” Sean muttered at her. He stalked over toward the Carlton, whistling low under his breath. “You never mentioned this the other night.” His eyes slid over the paintwork in much the same way they’d covered the Goddess’s curves, appreciating every facet of the retro vehicle. “Never got my hands on a Carlton before, how long you had it?”

Sullana smiled. “Since new.” Sean glanced at her. “How old are you?” She laughed. “I’m a fucking _goddess_ , Sean. Old enough that it makes no difference anymore.” He nodded. “Yeah, sorry, didn’t think. I’ll call Vauxhall and order the part in, but it’ll take a day or so. You want a courtesy car while we keep yours here?” He nodded over at a prius parked across the street. She looked at him. “You’re fucking joking, right?” He shook his head. “Took it as a trade-in, use it as a garage runabout and, well, we call it the ‘dis-courtesy’ car usually, sorry.” She snorted. “Thanks, but I’d rather walk.”

Sean considered for a moment, it was coming up to lunchtime anyway. “I’ll drive you home, if you like? Can come pick you up when it’s ready?” Sullana smiled. “Sure.” He grinned back. “Let me just text Phil, tell him to forget the sausage rolls, and tell Mike I might be late back from lunch break. And this time, I’m getting your fucking number, I need it to call you when your car’s done anyway.” She laughed, leaned in and kissed him. “Let’s go.”

They took the manta again, he let her drive and enjoyed the spectacle of her exploring the power and handling with a deftness of hand that spoke of long experience. Gear changes clean and tight, thumbs clear of the steering wheel like a rally driver or off roader to avoid potential kickback, eyes flicking to and fro with perfect situational awareness. He felt himself growing hard at her mere presence and was vaguely disappointed when she pulled up in front of a tall Victorian era semi-detached home near Hammersmith. “Nice place” he commented, knowing that properties in this area were prohibitively expensive. He wondered where gods got their money from.

Something had been nagging at the back of his head for the past few minutes, he paused as they got out of the car. “Hang on, it’s daytime – doesn’t the sun bother you?” She shook her head, reaching for her house keys in her pocket. “Nope, not me. I told you, I’m not a vampire.”

“There’s a takeaway down the end of the street if you want to grab some lunch, I’m afraid I don’t have any food in the house for you.” Sean shook his head. “All I want for lunch is you.” He winked and licked his lower lip suggestively at her, then leaned in to kiss her again, hands roving over her curves. She endured it without complaint for a moment or two then stepped back. “Best not get carried away or you’ll end up taking me right here on the street. Let’s go in.” He followed her into the well-appointed home, more spacious on the inside than it appeared from the front, with an extension leading back into a long garden behind. He took out his phone. “Before I forget, let’s get your number, pet.” She grinned and took it from him, entering her details, then calling herself to prove it was the real deal, then tossed her phone on the sofa, and dragged him close. “You want a repeat performance?”

Sean grinned, already hard, “Fast and dirty? Only got a lunch hour.” She laughed. “Sure.” She grabbed his waist, spun him around and shoved him back down on the huge sofa, then quickly stripped as he wrestled with his own clothing. Sullana knelt down in front of him and spread his thighs, leaning forward between them to lick greedily at his cock, he laughed in surprise and let himself fall backwards on the cushions, enjoying her attentions, hands in her hair as she took him all in her mouth, swallowing down, deep throating him, he resisted thrusting up at her, his mind in tatters, she was too good, he was going to come in no time at all, and that just wouldn’t do, even for a quickie. He tugged at her hair to lift her off.

Sullana stood, and spun around with her back to him, then lowered herself down onto his wet cock, until she was sitting in his lap on the edge of the sofa. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, reaching around to play with her breasts as she rocked in his lap and he thrust up into her.

He wanted more depth, so he paused, and pushed her forwards. Understanding she tipped forwards off the sofa onto all fours on the carpet. He knelt behind her and guided himself in again. She spread her knees wide and tipped her upper body down to the floor, her arse high in the air as he slammed into her hard and fast. He reached around with one hand to find her clit and teased it in little circles as he pounded her pussy from behind, and felt her body weaken at the sensation, so used his other arm to support her abdomen, holding her up so she didn’t collapse from the pleasure.

He slowed his own movements slightly, not wanting to come until she had. He kept his fingers moving deftly, feeling the sensation of his cock parting her pussy lips between his fingers, then moving back to tease her clit some more, finding just the right spot, pressure and speed that made her legs shake, and maintained it. “That’s it, love, come for me, beautiful, I want to feel you squirt” he whispered into her ear, kissing her neck and shoulders “come for me, babe…” His hips rolled slowly and he felt her tighten “that’s it… yes…” and she shook as she orgasmed, tipping him over the edge, he sped up again then froze, mouth a silent scream as he followed suit, exploding inside her, hips juddering against hers.

They reclined on the sofa afterwards, entwined comfortably. “Good lunch?” she asked teasingly.   
“The best. I shall have to patronise this establishment more frequently in future for all my fine dining requirements” he jested back. “I think I owe you a real lunch” she replied. “How’d you feel about the Connaught, tomorrow afternoon?” His eyes widened in surprise. “Fancy place that.” She poked him “Well you’ll just have to wear your best Pantera t-shirt then won’t you?” He laughed. “I’ll rustle something up, sweetheart. What time?”   
“Dunno, I’ll text you later ok?” She kissed him and stood. “Best get dressed, you’ve got cars to fix, and I’ve got shit to do too.”

Sean sighed and gathered his things. He dressed and pulled her in for a quick kiss as he left. “See you tomorrow, hotness.” With a saucy wink, he was gone.


	6. A proper lunch this time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean has a surprise for his Goddess, and spends a few hours unravelling her completely.

The text had said 1:30. He left Mike and his other mechanic, Abbie supervising him, in charge. He’d cleared the trickier jobs and just had them running customer’s cars to the MOT station and back most of the afternoon. They could cope. He didn’t do MOTs in house yet, but they’d get there when all the paperwork got cleared hopefully.

Abbie laughed at him as he left the break room after getting showered and changed. “What?” he demanded, indignantly. Abbie covered her mouth with her hand, accidentally smearing oil over her face. “Nothing, Sean. Never seen you in a suit before that’s all.” He sighed. “Doubt they’d like me in greasy fucking overalls on their fancy chairs. Thought I’d make an effort today.”

He had a customer’s car to give an extended test drive to, so he could make sure he’d got the intermittent fault properly fettled. It was a Lancia Stratos, and classy enough to impress in Mayfair, so it’d make the ideal ride for the afternoon. He relaxed into the Italian leather interior and grinned as he blipped the throttle. Perfect.

He arrived in plenty of time, parking around the corner near Berkeley Square, and walked the rest of the way. He took a seat in the bar and ordered a soft drink, given he was driving today. Shortly after he felt a tug in the pit of his stomach and shifted in his seat uneasily at the sensation, before something made him look up. Sullana was gliding into the bar, this time wearing a simple long dark blue dress and plain gold choker, hair swept back, exuding effortless elegance. His breath caught in his throat. She sat next to him and leaned forward for a kiss.

“You look stunning” he whispered.  
“As do you” she replied, demurely, eyes running over his torso appreciatively.  
“Lunch is on me today” she reminded him.  
“I wish I could take that literally – I want to eat it off your damn body” he whispered back with a salacious wink, making her laugh.

The Maître D’ led them to their table, Sean waved away the wine list as neither of them would be partaking. Sullana politely declined any food citing medical reasons, but sat and watched Sean enjoy his with quiet fascination. He looked at her and laughed.  
“It’s funny you know, usually the date at a fancy restaurant happens BEFORE the mind blowing sex. I think we’ve got this all backwards.”  
Sullana shrugged. “I’ve never been one for convention.”  
He grinned and squeezed her thigh under the tablecloth affectionately.  
“Do Phil and Morgan not mind all this then?” she queried.  
Sean shook his head. “I’m pan, and poly. Phil just wants me, but is happy to share, he just doesn’t want anyone else too. Morgan is happy to share me with Phil and whoever else makes me happy, but they also have Jennie. Jennie and I aren’t into each other that way, but Morgan would be happy to have me with someone else who they liked too. You’ll have to meet them and get to know each other, if that interests you, that is.”

Sullana considered for a moment. “I’d be delighted. I’ll leave it to you to arrange a meeting sometime.” She paused.  
“… This is all sounding rather… official.” She hesitated. “I take it this means you want me for more than just a one night stand and an alternative to lunch then? I mean I’m happy with a friends with benefits arrangement if that’s all you’d like, but you’re also a pretty intriguing guy, so if you want more, I’ll take it.”

Sean coughed on his drink nervously. “Uh. I… Yeah. I, um. Yes.” He swallowed. “Yes.”  
“Yes what?” she gave a half smile.  
“I’d like… to see you more often?” he stumbled over the words. “Uh, to go out with you? If you’re ok with that, that is?”  
Sullana smiled warmly and reached under the table to caress his crotch, leaning forwards to whisper in his ear.  
“If that’s what you want, I’m all yours.”  
She kissed him.

After lunch, he drove her back to hers in the Stratos. He’d taken the afternoon off. He had already shed his jacket and tie, undid his top shirt buttons, removed his cufflinks and rolled his shirtsleeves up his arms, the mere sight reducing Sullana to a quivering wreck. As they got through the door she ordered “Keep your clothes on exactly as they are.” She led him upstairs to a sparsely decorated bedroom with huge super king sized bed dominating the room, slid out of her dress, keeping the gold choker on. She was wearing a basque, suspenders and stockings underneath her dress, and the lingerie stayed on, except for the black lacy panties, which she wriggled out of, throwing them across the room at Sean who caught them and lifted them to his face to inhale deeply. He winked at her then cast them aside. She lay back on the bed and he crawled up from the foot of the bed on all fours towards her then paused, adjusting his rolled cuffs, he knelt and slid a hand up her inner thigh, fingers questing.

Sullana moaned contentedly as his fingers delved deep, teasing gently. He smirked and his other hand reached in his pocket for something. With a wicked grin he withdrew a small clitoral stimulator – a tiny vibrator made to slip over a finger, and pressed it on. It buzzed quietly and he slowly drew it up her thigh, passing it gently around her vulva, circling inwards, as she struggled to stay still enough to enjoy the sensations. Sean knelt next to her hips and smiled at her as his skilled fingers worked between her legs. He leaned forward to kiss her, swallowing her moans, his free hand stroking her hair as the other committed devilish acts of sorcery in her slick folds. She reached out and stroked up the sinews of his forearm, up to the rolled up sleeve at his elbow. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a glimpse of chest and a couple of curls of dark hair, plus the edges of a couple of his tattoos that lurked below his collar.

The tattoos were from a variety of origins, largely from different religions and traditions from around the world, signs of protection and wards against evil, some more esoteric than others, but with the breadth of her knowledge and experience, the Goddess recognised them all when she first saw them. They were another layer of curiosity about him – a question for another time.

Sullana quivered in ecstasy at his skilled ministrations, with the added aspect of the tiny finger vibrator, he alternated dipping into press it against her g-spot, and up again to dance around her sensitive clit, judging his speed and movements based on her gasps and facial expression, feeling the tightness of her muscles under his other hand as he stroked the lacy basque and murmured encouragement to her. The maelstrom of sensations had her orgasming all too quickly. “Good girl, that’s it, that’s a good start, love.” But that _was_ just the start, he had plans to utterly unravel her over the next few hours. She grabbed at his wrist, desperate for more contact, for more _something_ , but he gently removed her hand with a wicked grin and reached into his pocket for his tie.

“Naughty, naughty – you’re mine to do with as I please today, and I think your hands getting all greedy are just going to spoil things…” He held up the tie with one eyebrow arched in question. Her eyes darkened and she smiled at him. He removed the stimulator long enough to tie her wrists to the bed frame. “Safeword?” he asked her. “Prius” she laughed without hesitation. Sean snorted. “Nice one. Ready?” She nodded. He slid the stimulator over his finger again and resumed his task with a wicked grin, tongue flashing across his lips in anticipation at what he was going to do to her.

Over the next few hours he coaxed orgasm after orgasm out of her squirming body, never letting up, as she squirted over his hands again and again, sweating and cursing, back arching, body tight and rolling against the restraint, pressing into his hand, wanting more yet barely able to contain what she was receiving. He blew her mind to tatters of incoherent thought until she couldn’t even form a sentence. Concerned, he paused. “You still got your safeword?” he asked. She nodded. “Sh-sh-shut up and c-carry on you fucking b-b-b-bastard” she growled, dark and threatening, her husky voice igniting his own desire. Her body was shaking so much and the next orgasm canted her back into incoherence, her whole body shaking uncontrollably, eyes rolled back in her skull.

She’d taken far more than he’d expected was even possible, they’d lost count of the number of times he’d pushed her over the edge, she was utterly ruined, hot sweat slicked skin shining in the low light, teeth gritted and wordless sibilants spilling from her lips. He paused and considered a moment, then removed the stimulator, the battery of which was dying anyway, and wiped his hands on a towel. He began to unbutton his shirt the rest of the way and slid it off, then removed the rest of his clothing. He leaned over to kiss her softly, bringing her back to reality, and reached up to untie the scarf. Suddenly, snake-fast, her lower body whipped up and her legs captured him around his waist, stopping him and dragging him back with superhuman strength.

“Don’t you fucking _dare_.”  
He let his hand fall away from the knots.  
Her strong thighs pulled him straighter between her legs and her eyes commanded him, brooking no argument.  
“Fuck me.”  
Without hesitation, he complied, repeatedly.

He woke early, dawn still not having broken, and cast his gaze across at the sleeping Goddess. She’d consented to being untied in the end, and shed the rest of the lingerie. Her eyelids twitched as she dreamed. He idly wondered what gods dreamed about, and decided it was probably too unfathomable to know. His arm ached, but it was a good, satisfying feeling, his hand felt a little cramped but god it had been worth it, to completely disassemble her mind like that. He grinned in satisfaction, and he slid an arm across her chest, squeezing her breast gently, relishing its soft fullness. She opened one eye and gazed at him sleepily.

“Already wanting more?” she teased.  
“Just want to hold you for now” he whispered back and rested his head on her soft breast, breathing in her warm scent.  
After a moment he drew breath, and hesitated, then asked…  
“You said you can’t get pregnant. I never thought to ask more specifics.”  
She stroked his hair gently.  
“I’m a deity, one linked inextricably with death, I can’t create life and wouldn’t want to anyway. It’s not for me. I can only bring a cessation of life. I mean I might be able to _delay_ someone or something dying, but I can’t bring back what’s already dead, or create new life. Is that a problem for you?”  
Sean shook his head.  
“No, love. Suits me just fine, never been one to be interested in kids anyway, it’s more of a relief that you’re on the same page, and I don’t have to worry about contraception failing or anything. Was thinking of getting a vasectomy anyway, just to be on the safe side. Not for your benefit of course, but others.”  
She nodded. “Your body, love.” And kissed his head.

He rolled back and lay next to her, one hand resting on her waist, looking into her eyes.  
“I meant it, you know. I want to be with you. As long as you’ll have me.”  
“You realise that I’m going to outlive you by a long margin, Sean?”  
He nodded. “I’d been thinking about that. I’m ok with it if you are. Just get me a good nursing home will you?” He grinned and she slapped him playfully, then pulled him close and kissed his cheek.  
“I’ll look after you, darling.”


	7. Alpha and Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess grants her lover some protection.

The next morning, he woke to the smell of frying bacon, surprised. He wandered downstairs to the palatial, and until then, presumably unused kitchen, to find Sullana preparing him breakfast – a full English with eggs, sausages, mushrooms and more. She spoke without looking up.   
“I’m hoping it tastes ok, I can’t sample it to tell if it’s right, but it should be.”  
Sean was intrigued.   
“Where did you learn how to cook if you don’t eat?”  
“I can pull skills out of people’s minds if I need to – this just took a handshake with a chef and I can apply the understanding to what I need in a few seconds. I figured it’d be a useful skill to have sometimes.”   
She dished the food up onto a plate and set it on the table for him, then set about brewing some tea.

He sat dressed only in his boxers, his torso bare.   
“Where’d you find out about some of those sigils?” she nodded towards his chest.  
“Did a lot of studying, visited a lot of museums, talked to a lot of mostly very boring old men with very niche fields of expertise. I think you realise they’re not decorative, they’re meant to be functional. Dunno if they work or not but it’s better than nothing, you never know.”  
Sullana nodded. “Worth a shot I guess – most of those would be apt to deter lower ranking vampires from biting you, at least biting you over the actual tattoos, although they may not have any compunctions over biting you elsewhere, depends how powerful they are.”

He ate, and she sat silently, gazing at his chest, deep in thought as he finished his breakfast, finger to her lips, considering something. Sean looked up at her questioningly. “Something on your mind, pet?”

“There’s… there’s something I need to do, to protect you. If you want to go ahead with this, to be with me, that is.” Sean looked up at her enquiringly. “So long as you’re with me, you’re a target, well more of a target than you’ve made yourself already anyway. The vampires are apt to hunt you down unless they know that the consequences for doing so aren’t worth the risk.” Sean considered her words. “What do you need to do then, love?” She pursed her lips. “It might hurt, for a second, but it should keep you safe. Safer, at least, than if I didn’t. It’s a couple of things really – I need to mark you as mine, as my property, under my protection, so regardless of whether I’m with you or not, any supernatural being who encounters you will be able to tell you’re mine, and that messing with you would be a personal insult to me, with appropriate repercussions.”

“Mark me?”  
She nodded. “It’s quick, and generally enjoyable save for a brief sting, but then I’ll also need to make a point to the local kindred, just to drive the point home. It’ll mean pretty much walking you into the lion’s den, but under my personal protection. It’s more a show of force, a performance to make a point and remind them who’s in charge, in case any have forgotten their manners.”

  
Sean shifted uneasily. She laid a soothing hand on him.  
“You don’t have to do any of this though. If I let you go now, if we walk away, you shouldn’t spark any more interest than you have already with your vampire hunting antics, but the longer you stay with me, the more likely you are to encounter trouble from them. They might otherwise think they can control me in some way via you, and I need to disabuse them of that idea.”

She looked him in the eyes. “Remember, you can walk away now if you prefer, it’s entirely your choice.”  
He stared back into hers.   
“Never.”  
And pulled her forward into a fierce kiss, holding her close, gripping hard enough to bruise a human.   
  


She took him by the hand and led him back upstairs, once there, she removed her dressing gown and lay back on the bed as he shed his boxers then climbed on top of her on all fours, kissing up her throat. Sullana sighed with pleasure and rolled back, pulling him down on top of her. “Take me.”  
He did.

But this time something felt different, she held his head in her hands, one on each temple, concentrating, and he felt his skin crawl as he thrust into her, then became aware of an entrancing scent in the air, rising from the Goddess like a pheromone driving him wild, he growled, deep and feral and crushed himself to her tighter, redoubling his efforts, hips pounding hard, she grabbed at his back, clawing him close, gasping as she planted kisses up and down his throat and the side of his neck, up to his ear and down to his shoulder then back again. She began drawing little love bites, then nipped with her teeth as she went, each bite bringing him to new heights of ecstasy, each one a little harder than the last and lighting him afire interspersed with whispers of “mine, mine, _mine_ ”. His breaths became hoarse grunts of urgent need, and he bit back at her in return.

She felt his orgasm building, and gripped his body hard, refusing to let him lift off, biting a little harder each time, until she felt him suddenly freeze and start to shudder his release, when she reached the junction where the side of his neck met his shoulder, and bit down HARD, breaking the skin, drawing blood, allowing the endorphin rush of his orgasm to mask the pain of the bite, he screamed out but more in pleasure than pain as she marked him, she then growled against his skin, deep, dangerous and feral: “mine, mine, **_MINE_**.” “Yours” he gasped, uncomprehending, but knowing it was true.

Afterwards, he rolled off her and felt his shoulder gingerly, wincing as his fingers came away bloody. “What the fuck was that for?”   
“I told you I had to mark you. It’s a mark of protection, it’s a supernatural thing, it’ll scar slightly, it’s not just a visible mark, they’ll be able to sense it’s there as well.”  
“Did you just turn me into a fucking _vampire_?” he demanded, angrily.  
“NO! Of course fucking not, you bloody idiot. I haven’t taken any of your blood, I only bit you. You’re still human. I couldn’t make you a vampire anyway, only they can do that, and I won’t fucking let them.”

Sean relaxed slightly. “So, what next?”  
“Next we take you to court”  
“Court?”  
“Assembly of the undead. They have a hierarchy, a political system, laws, a whole society with traditions and customs that date back thousands of years. Each region has a de-facto leader who rules over the locals and metes out any judiciary requirements. They meet regularly for ‘court’. You wouldn’t be the only human, many of them have retainers or ghouls, variations of human to part human to serve them. During court there are rules of Elysium, to harm another’s retainer would be an act of gross misconduct. Not that it doesn’t happen, but there are consequences.”  
  


She held his gaze, and grasped his hand, squeezing it comfortingly. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.” She kissed him again.   
“Ok.”  
“I’m going to do something else, it should help you stay safer regardless of if you’re with me or not – I’m going to give you the ability to sense kindred, you’ll be able to smell them, to tell them apart from humans at a distance. This one won’t hurt at all, I promise.”  
She allowed one nail to transform into a wickedly sharp claw, and ran it firmly down her arm, allowing a little rivulet of blood to form there. It wasn’t red but a deep purple. She held her hand hovering over it for a moment, and it shimmered. She held her arm out to him.   
“Lick it, just a little, just what’s there. Don’t worry it’s still not going to turn you into a vampire, like I said, I can’t do that anyway.”  
He looked at her arm, then up at her, hesitating, then nodded, and dropped his head to touch his tongue to the blood. It was warm, and not what he expected, not as salty as he would think, still coppery and almost spicy. It was euphoric. He’d never taken drugs, but imagined this must be what it felt like to snort a line of coke. He licked slowly up her wrist, and swallowed. He stared as the initial incision healed before his eyes as the goddess stared at her own arm.

It burned down his throat like a shot of whisky, with a similar warming feeling, and his body tingled all over, as if tiny champagne bubbles were bursting under his skin, then his nose and nasal passages itched and burned like he’d just sniffed pepper, then quieted.

And the _world_ hit him in the nose in an overwhelming cacophony of sensations. He collapsed back onto the bed. “What the _fuck_?” He could suddenly smell _everything_. Holy fuck was this what it was like to be a damn dog? It was too intense, all too much, he wanted to bury his nose in the pillow and block everything out, but he felt her hand on his back, and reassurance flooded through the touch, calming him. “Breathe slowly” she reminded him. “Keep your mouth shut at first – mouth open _and_ nose amplifies things. It’ll settle soon, it just takes a little getting used to, I guess like being colour blind your whole life and then suddenly seeing colours, it’s a bit overwhelming but you’ll learn to deal with it.”

He breathed slower, in through his nose, out through his mouth, and began to try to sort the scents in his mind. Some he was familiar with, the sweet musky golden presence of the Goddess, the overpowering scent of their recent sex, the detergents on the sheets, every cleaning product used in the house at once, then scents flooding in from outside, humans, animals, cars, trees, plants, even the tarmac on the road, all pouring in and vying for attention.

Sullana reached out and stroked his arm, soothingly. “There’s something else I need to teach you before we go, it’s not going to be easy, but you can pick it up with practise.” He met her gaze, trusting, seeing the care for him in her eyes. He nodded. Her gifts seemed worth it so far. “Carry on.”


	8. Into the lion's den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess makes a point to the Kindred to protect her lover.

They pulled up outside an old Georgian building in Central London, she turned the Carlton’s key and stilled the engine, looking over at Sean questioningly. “Are you ok? Do you still want to go ahead with this?”   
He nodded. “I’m sure.”  
“You’ll have to do whatever I say, unquestioningly, you got that? It’s just for tonight, just for here, it’s an act, it’s not how I really feel about you, you know that, right? I would never take your freedom, you still have Phil, and Morgan, and whoever else you want, you’re still theirs too, you’re not mine any more than you’re theirs, that’s not going to change. But tonight, I need you to pretend. Pretend with your whole being. If it gets too much just tell me, we’ll change to plan B and I’ll slaughter the whole bloody lot of them in one go if I have to.”  
  
Sean nodded again, jaw set.  
“I need certainty.”  
He nodded again. “Yes.”  
“And I’m not Sullana, remember? That’s just for you and me.”  
“You got it, Goddess.”  
He reached across and kissed her, his hand straying into her lap, squeezing between her legs teasingly.   
“And none of that, tonight you’re my sub, my omega. 3 steps behind, always at my feet, ok?”  
“Gotcha, hotness.”  
She looked at him, unblinking.  
“Yes, Goddess.”  
She smiled and nodded.  
“Yallah.”  
He looked blank.  
“Let’s go.”

He followed her across the street, she whispered back “remember, if you want out, just tell me, like we rehearsed, I’ll kill the fucking lot of them for you, I’ll end it.” She smiled back at him, he returned her smile with a little wink, then set his face carefully blank again. They approached the door of the old masonic hall and entered. The scent that had been tickling him for the past 20 minutes suddenly amplified all in one go, a sweet rotten scent that he suddenly understood was vampire, a LOT of them, all together in one place. Ice slid down his spine, but he set his eyes firmly on the Goddess’s back and followed her, looking straight forward at all times. He had no stakes, no weapons, nothing on him, he was defenceless save for her, but he trusted her. The mark on his shoulder ached, a good ache, a comforting feeling. Tonight he’d be hers.

As they entered the main hall, the audience chamber, his stomach dropped – the scent of the assembled hundred or so kindred assaulted his nostrils and made him almost want to gag, he swallowed the urge down and tried not to look left or right, just to glimpse them on his peripheral vision. They were all apparent ages, all races, shapes and sizes, dressed differently, like regular human beings, scruffy clothes, bespoke suits, work wear, only their scent gave them away, that and the piercing looks that drilled into him from all sides as he walked down the centre of the room feeling like a piece of meat in the middle of a pack of wolves. He could feel their hunger for him. He kept his gaze resolutely on the Goddess stalking confidently ahead of him.

The moment they had stepped through the door he felt it, she’d practised this at home with him first, allowing him to experience the sensation of how it felt to be in her presence when she allowed a wave of menacing wrath: her divine power, unroll around her. The first time he’d fallen to the floor whimpering in fear, had wet himself in terror. She’d immediately ceased and dropped to the floor next to him, stroking him, soothing him, reassuring him and peppering him with gentle kisses until he quieted. Once he regained his feet, and nodded, he braced himself and she tried again.

She wasn’t targeting him, she was purposefully trying to exclude him from the aura of menace, but it was difficult and he was still overwhelmed by it. He fell again, sobbing, she stopped, soothed him and asked if they should stop. He shook his head firmly. “No, keep going, I’ve got this.” She stood again and repeated it – again and again, each time he got better at resisting. He went weak at the knees, and felt like he’d been punched in the gut, felt he was utterly worthless, but he stood without falling, he didn’t cry, he didn’t whimper, he withstood the onslaught.

Each time she stopped and kissed him and the positive feedback loop quickly steeled him to the sensation, of reward following the aura of terror. She admired the iron strength at his core, he didn’t quit, he had guts. Sullana met his eyes with her own, her hands cradling his face. “I love you, Sean.” He smiled back at her, eyes warm with adoration. “I love you too.” He kissed her long and gentle, hands twining in her hair, holding her close.

So as they swept through the door and she allowed her aura of power unroll across the room, he barely flinched, unlike the rest of the audience, who visibly weakened, several fell to the floor before regaining their feet, almost all of them shrank back, eyes wide. The human retainers, at the back of the hall and edges of the room, as one, dropped like flies and cowered on the carpet, weeping in terror, trying to hide. Sean allowed himself a slight smirk and lifted his head a little, following the Goddess’s swaying hips as she climbed the dais at the end of the opulent room.

A smartly dressed vampire sat in a throne on the dais, he was tall, looking to be in his 50s, handsome and sharply dressed in an expensive suit, with expensive watch to match, Italian leather shoes, short greying hair and hard edge to his wide jaw. He stared at the Goddess as she mounted the dais before him, and cowered back in his seat. She stood before him, pointedly staring at where he sat. In a rush he remembered himself and slithered hastily off the throne in an undignified mess, scrambling on hands and knees until he got to the edge of the platform and regained his feet, bowing low and cringing.

Sullana levelled a hard look at the older vampire, turned, and sat, no… _lounged_ , in the throne, half sideways, one leg carelessly thrown over the arm. She looked down at Sean and beckoned him with one finger. He stepped forward, and she looked pointedly down at the floor in front of the throne, then back at him, unsmiling. He sat down immediately. She twirled a finger and he spun around so he was no longer facing her, but sitting with his back to the throne, so she could rest an arm on his shoulders, as his head fell back against her thigh. She cast her gaze across the room, one hand idly stroking Sean’s hair. Through her hand on his body she fed him reassurance and safety, soothing his fear over her threatening aura, rewarding him for his bravery so far. He was bolstered by the contact and stared out impassively at the massed vampires.

She lifted her head expectantly, and as one, the entire court fell to their knees. She reined in her menace slightly, but not entirely. Her body contact with Sean kept him grounded and immune to its effects now. She nodded in approval. The court stood again slowly.

She nodded to the elder vampire on the edge of the platform, and flicked her eyes to a smaller chair next to her throne. He obediently scurried over and took a seat. Ignoring the assembled kindred she addressed him directly. “So, Adamson, any news? All behaving?” He nodded hurriedly. “Nothing to report, my Lady, all is under control. We, we didn’t anticipate your presence, my Lady, my sincerest apologies, I shall have a tribute brought to you directly.”

This was one part that the Goddess didn’t necessarily want right now, but it was protocol, and an important part of the performance, to reinforce her status and remind them who she was. Adamson gesticulated at a lesser kindred off to the side, who swiftly moved to converse with another, they disappeared into the crowd, gathered a third, who had “muscle” written all over her, and made a beeline for a small group of neonates towards the back.

One of the neonates, appearing in his 40s, with olive skin and dark eyes, long black hair tied back, and smartly trimmed black beard, cowered back as they approached. The muscle grabbed him firmly and between them, they dragged the terrified neonate up to the dais before the Goddess. She nudged Sean with her foot slightly and he shifted to the side a little, looking up, trying not to look apprehensive. She stood and considered the neonate trembling before her. He fell to his knees, and sobbed. She reached out to touch his shoulder and his crying ceased immediately, replaced by a desperate, keening whine of supplication and need. He raised his eyes to gaze upon her, and, whilst still utterly terrified, yearning etched across his face, and into every line of his body.

The Goddess flung a look at the vampires who had brought the sacrifice to her, and they hurriedly backed away and left the platform. The neonate stayed where he was, entranced. She kept her hand on his shoulder, reading him. They’d brought him up as punishment, he’d made repeated transgressions. He’d killed humans when he didn’t need to, for the thrill of it, losing himself in his feral nature and not listening to his mentors when they tried to rein him in. He wasn’t learning, wasn’t respecting his elders, and was running wild. He’d had chances. She was vaguely relieved. He was one who needed to be taken out anyway. It was better than one who hadn’t done something truly awful, as she needed to make a kill tonight, not just drink.

She almost casually let her left leg slide backwards a little until she felt her ankle make contact with Sean’s knee, without making it look like it was on purpose. She needed that contact so she could continue to feed the strength through to him, so he wouldn’t fall apart at what she did next. She felt him recognise the connection, and the thought _I’m ready_ fed back to her.

She lifted her hand from the neonate’s shoulder to his jaw, and looked him in the eyes, merciless. He whined, his hands jerked as he fought the urge to bring them up to touch her, yearning, at the same time knowing he couldn’t possibly deserve to touch her divine being. Her hand slid around to the back of his neck, and she drew him upwards to stand in front of her, pulling him closer, and closed her eyes, breath hot on his neck, smelling his fear, and his lust at the same time, savouring it, and feeling the waves of terrified belief rolling off his skin, breathing it in, drinking it like fine wine from the air, fuelling her inner fires. She opened her eyes, and the golden flames poured forth. Her claws manifested, piercing cruelly into his soft flesh at his neck, he winced but didn’t move. Her fangs lengthened alarmingly. She felt Sean’s mind falter through the small connection she felt through her ankle against his knee, and took a breath, sending a reassurance back through. _You’ve got this, you’ll be ok, you’re safe, you’re MINE, I’ll protect you._

She took another breath, then sank her fangs through the pliant flesh of the neonate’s neck, closing her eyes again in her euphoria, hearing him moan in deep satisfaction at her touch, leaning into her embrace. Shivering orgasmic waves flushed through both their bodies. With each gulp the sensation heightened, he was quivering in her grasp, knees weak, so she reached out and held his body with her other arm, claws digging in and gripping him close. He groaned and gasped, shaking and desperate for more even as she drained him dry, his moans growing weaker, into contented gasps, then silence like an afterglow as she devoured his soul and he dropped, flaring into white hot flame and dissolving to ash.

The power was phenomenal. Not just the blood, not just the soul, not just the fierce flaming belief that flared at the very end of his existence, but the FLOOD of fear and belief from every creature in the room as they witnessed their Goddess in her glory. Her power emanated in overwhelming waves across the room, and out, across the city in an invisible pulse as the sacrifice was completed. Kindred across the country felt the pulse like a shockwave and shivered in fear. She tipped her head back and _roared_.

Every creature in the room fell to the floor.

She had diverted a good chunk of that raw power into a blast of strength and reassurance that she aimed directly at Sean to hold him together, it was one of the most difficult things she’d ever attempted to do, to maintain enough control of her own mind in the moment of extreme euphoria to be able to aim that reassurance to her human companion in the same instant. But she felt him there without looking, a whisper quiet thought managed to break through: _safe_. She breathed and tried to ground herself again, to come down from the high, to rein in her power and release her grip on the kindred. She swallowed and sank back into the chair behind her, breathing hard. Sean shuffled back and reached out to touch her leg. She allowed the visible touch, it was permitted in context, the human seeking reassurance from his alpha. She resumed stroking his hair gently. _Well done, you’re wonderful, you did well, it’s not over, but you’re doing great, I love you._

She didn’t look down at him though. She left her face impassive as the assembled kindred regained their feet. Most of the human retainers were unconscious. She felt a wave of pride for Sean, he’d withstood a pulse of power that had floored creatures many times stronger than he was. He felt the adoration through her contact, and rested his head against her thigh, keeping his own face impassive as hers. All eyes in the room were on them, rapt, fearful, and hungry for attention.

With their focus on her, the Goddess allowed her hand to wander, stroking down Sean’s neck by her lap, caressing him gently. She shifted in position and nudged him slightly, encouraging him to kneel in front of her, his back still to the throne, and placed a knee either side of his body, leaning forward, resting her elbows on his shoulders, forearms loose in front of them, hands dangling, staring at the room over the top of his head, challenging anyone to speak.

She tipped her head on one side, and considered Sean’s neck, eyes flicking up occasionally to meet the gaze of the assembled kindred, and stroked the skin of his throat with one sharp claw, not drawing blood, but making shivers run down his spine nonetheless. She was taunting them with her human possession, making them want him. It was a power play. You could have heard a pin drop. A low growl started deep in her chest and swelled to fill the room. She leaned forward and licked up his neck slowly, not breaking eye contact with the room as a whole. Sean tipped his head to one side and closed his eyes briefly, relishing her touch, quivering. She pulled at the collar of his t-shirt slightly, exposing the healing mark where his shoulder met his neck ensuring all could see it, and bent down to lick it slowly, making a show of the display. The next wave of power she unleashed was unmistakable and echoed through the mind of every creature in the room: **_MINE_**.

Sean shuddered with delight, opened his eyes and stared out at the crowd, a smirk on his face, challenging any of them himself to deny it. He belonged to the Goddess, and her alone. _At least tonight_ , he told himself in his head. His cock was hard and straining against his jeans, he didn’t think he’d ever felt more horny than in this instant, being utterly possessed by a Goddess, with a room full of vampires jealously lusting over him, lusting over what they couldn’t have. As he met each of their gazes, they dropped their eyes from his. The Goddess’s growl slowly subsided.

She stood abruptly. “Any questions?” Her glare challenged anyone to speak. None did.   
“Then we’re done here.”  
She strode off the platform and down the centre of the room. Sean stood as casually as he dared and sauntered easily after her, head high, this time daring to make eye contact with the creatures around him, smug, untouchable. He hitched his neck to one side, proudly displaying his mark as he walked past them, a smirk playing on his lips. They didn’t stop until they got to the car. She opened the door to let him in, wordlessly, got in herself, and drove off, all in silence.

It wasn’t until they were several miles away that she pulled over, stuck it in neutral and pulled on the handbrake, leaving the engine of the Carlton idling. She drew a breath and looked across at Sean. Their eyes met.   
“You were wonderful, darling.”  
She leaned across and pulled him into a passionate kiss, then broke off.  
“Are you ok?” her eyes explored his, worried, seeking reassurance that he was truly ok. He smiled back at her and stroked her face.   
“I’m fine, gorgeous. Fuck _me_ you’re hot. I wanted to bend you over and fuck you on that throne in front of the lot of them. Never been so fucking turned on in my entire life.”  
He laughed and she joined him, leaning her face into his shoulder and giggling. He reached out and groped her boobs cheekily.   
She leaned back and grinned at him, biting her lip playfully. She looked around, and he felt a pulse of power.   
“There’s no one around” she stated. It was a fact, that she’d just ensured was true.  
She opened the door and stepped out, walked to the front of the car, and bent over it, resting her elbows on the bonnet. She stared suggestively through the windscreen at him, one eyebrow raised, and beckoned him out with a flick of her head. Sean scrambled to obey.

He stepped behind her delicious arse, running his hands over her contours, squeezing, his cock hard in his pants. She wriggled her behind at him invitingly. He reached around to undo her belt and fly, then slid her jeans and panties down exposing her soft backside. He bent down and kissed it gently, bit it sharply, drawing a happy gasp from Sullana, then slapped it hard. She yelped, then wriggled it at him again. He grinned and dropped his own trousers, freeing his cock, and leaned forward over her back, sliding hands up and around to her tits, squeezing them, his breath hot on the back of her neck, as she felt the head of his cock pressing up against her clit, and rocked back at him.

“Your turn to be _mine_ ” he hissed in her ear, and slid home in one slick movement, making her breath hitch. He rocked into her deep and hard, feeling the rumble of the idling engine through her body, adding an extra dimension of lust to the entire experience. Fucking a damn goddess over the bonnet of a Lotus Carlton. What the fuck did he do right in his life to deserve this? He groaned in pleasure and gripped at her hips, pulling her back onto him. He felt another minor pulse of power, and was slightly startled to hear the throttle blip on the Carlton in time with his thrusts. He laughed as he realised she was controlling it, adding the extra sound and vibration as another layer of sensation to their fucking. _Hell yeah._ He grinned and bent down over her back again, “you fucking minx.”

Sean pounded into her hard and rapid, enjoying it fast and dirty, she squirmed back at him “Come for me, Sean, fill me up” she gasped. He slapped her arse cheek then bent down to growl in her ear “don’t fucking worry, pet, I’m gonna…” gritting his teeth he let himself go, gripping her hard, he clawed at her t-shirt, and returned the favour by biting down on her hard as he came, making his own mark on her shoulder, drawing blood, and growled “ ** _MINE_** ” into her skin. She shuddered underneath him and he felt a gush of wetness flood his groin as she came around him, her muscles gripping his pulsing cock tight. He collapsed forward onto her, breathing ragged, sweat plastering his hair to his brow. He kissed her gently, kissed over the bite, eliciting a satisfied moan from her lips. “ _Mine_ ” he whispered this time. She shuddered and nodded. “Yours.”


	9. Gone hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean puts his new found powers to use.

It was several days later. Sean woke in his own bed, with the reassuring shape of Phil snoring gently next to him. Sullana had explained that she’d be away for a week or two. She had things to deal with in other countries that she’d been neglecting for a while, but it suited their relationship just fine, as she didn’t want to hog his attention at the expense of his other relationships.

Sean dressed as quietly as he could so as not to wake his boyfriend, and crept downstairs. He fired up the mk2 Astra for the first time in a while and made a quick dash down the shops for some croissants and pain au chocolats to surprise Phil with when he woke up, as well as grabbing him his favourite drink from the coffee shop.

He crept upstairs with it all on a tray and nudged the door open with his foot. “Hey handsome” he whispered, then set the tray aside and leant in to kiss his lover’s cheek gently. “Morning, gorgeous” he murmured into his ear. Phil stirred and smiled. “Hey hot stuff. I smell coffee.” “Of course, all for you. I’m gonna work on the 130 some more, need to get some more welding done before it’s ready for body work prep.” He placed the tray on the bed as Phil stretched. “Hope you don’t mind, you said you were off to visit your mum later, so I’ll be visiting Morgan this evening.” Phil nodded and sipped the hot coffee appreciatively. “Not Sullana then?”  
“Nah, she’s away on business, won’t be back for a week or two. Only got the two of you to please at the moment” Sean laughed, and gave Phil’s cock an affectionate squeeze through the blankets.

He cursed as a bit of hot welding slag fell and burned a tiny mark on his arm, but the work was nearly done. He was pretty proud of his tidy lines of weld shimmering in rainbow colours on the bright metalwork. Next he’d have to strip all the old paint off, and prep it for the new paintwork. He’d got an ex PSNI land rover V8 engine to drop in it, and was looking forward to the power upgrade. His pocket buzzed as an alarm went off on his phone to remind him he had to get cleaned up and ready to head over to Morgan’s. He hadn’t realised the day had slipped away from him so fast. He wire brushed up the finished work and slipped his goggles off. Shower time.

There wasn’t room to park on Morgan’s driveway so he parked down the street a little way, and when he got out of the car a chill flashed down his spine. Something was nagging at him and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Then he realised it was a scent – distant, but unmistakable, of vampire. He froze, and cast about, trying to pinpoint the direction. Remembering what Sullana had said, he opened his mouth slightly to draw more of the scent in, then walked a few steps in each direction trying to find the source until he felt it was off in the direction of town, and fading. Whoever it was wasn’t close, and moving further away. He was slightly unsettled but figured he’d be ok. At least he knew now that he could definitely still detect them, and it made him feel a little safer.

“Oi!” Morgan’s shout interrupted his thoughts as they stood on their doorstep and looked down the street at him. “You coming in or what?” Sean shoved his hands in his pockets and walked toward them. “Sorry, got distracted. Smelt something. One of them.” Morgan raised their eyebrows in interest, Sean had told them about his newly granted improved sense of smell, and broken it to them about Sullana’s divinity. “Want to go get it? I’ll come with” they offered. Sean grinned. “Hell yeah, want to see how it goes now things are a bit different.” Morgan pulled their boots on and followed him back down the street.

He handed them a bottle of holy water and a stake, and loaded up his new, smaller crossbow with a stake of his own, tucking it inside his leather jacket with the safety catch firmly on. “I can smell them stronger now, we’re getting closer” Morgan nodded. They were a good person to have at your side for things like this, Morgan was stronger than Sean by a pretty wide margin, level headed and kept their cool in tricky situations.

The scent was leading them toward a seedy part of a council estate, but they walked with a “don’t fuck with me” confidence that tended to keep trouble away from them. The scent spiked sharply, he guessed because wherever the undead was, it was currently having a spike of emotion, which probably meant feeding. He began to run in the direction, Morgan hot on his heels. They came to a derelict house that had “drug den” written all over it, and he cast about for an entrance, before finding a boarded up window with the wood merely leant against the wall rather than nailed in place, he peeked through the aperture cautiously, then slid over the windowsill and in, crossbow drawn.

In the next room he found what they had been looking for. A short, balding stocky vampire who looked to be in his late 50s, had an emaciated skinhead junkie pinned to an old mattress on the floor, and was drinking greedily from the unconscious lad. His head snapped up as Sean appeared in the doorway. The vampire didn’t recognise Sean, he wasn’t one of the court who had been present for Sullana’s little display, but that didn’t matter, he could feel something unsettling about the human already, and dropped the junkie back on the mattress, standing uneasily.

Sean tipped his head on one side, allowing the faint scar on his shoulder to show with a slow grin, and raised a challenging eyebrow at the vampire, who paled visibly, taking a nervous step backwards, raising his hands placating. “I don’t want any trouble” the undead stammered hurriedly.

“Well you’ve found it anyway” Sean replied, levelling the crossbow toward the creature’s heart. The vampire whined in fear and frustration. “No, please, I’m not going to do anything to you, I can smell it, I know, I wouldn’t…” Sean nodded down at the prone form on the mattress between them. “You did to him though.” “He’s a fucking _junkie_ ” the vampire spat back. “He’s a _human_ ” hissed Sean back, menacingly. “His life is as important as mine regardless of his fucking life choices.”

Morgan stepped past Sean and bent down to check the lad’s weak thready pulse, and the vampire stared down at them. He couldn’t detect any warning mark on this human, and his eyes flicked up to Sean briefly, then back to Morgan, tongue flicking out over his lips, greedy and uncertain. “Don’t even fucking _think_ about it” hissed Sean, eyes narrowing.

With hindsight, they shouldn’t have cornered it in a room with only one door, as feeling trapped, it lunged forwards, unheeding, seeking to escape, but in its haste, clawing past Morgan on the floor. Startled by the sudden movement, Sean pulled the trigger, and the creature flared into white flame then ash. Morgan had their phone out. “Calling an ambulance for the guy here, I reckon he needs help.” Sean nodded and brushed some ash off the sleeve of his jacket.

Later, back at Morgan’s house, Sean cleaned the minor scratch they’d sustained to their arm when the vampire had attempted to claw past them. “You ok?” Morgan nodded. “I’ve had worse taking the cat to the vet” and laughed. “It was behaving weird with you though, what was that all about?” Sean shifted uneasily. “Sullana didn’t just give me a better sense of smell, she gave me something else, a kind of mark of protection that warns the fuckers off me a bit. They could attack me if they wanted to, but the fear of the consequences makes them think twice – first time I’ve faced one down since I got it, seems to work though. Never seen one so scared of me.”

Morgan raised their eyebrows, impressed. “Protection eh?” Sean nodded and pulled his t-shirt to one side, showing the fading scar for them to see.  
“Looks like she _bit_ you” they observed, slightly disapproving. Sean laid a hand on their thigh reassuringly. “It’s ok, love. It didn’t really hurt, I enjoyed it if anything. It’s just a kind of supernatural thing. Did a bit of a performance for the head honchos at vampire HQ as well for the look of the thing, Sullana warned them all off in a very public way.”

Morgan was incredulous. “What the fuck, Sean. Why didn’t you tell me about this before? She took you to their fucking HQ? What if they’d killed you for fucks sake?”

Sean shook his head. “It wasn’t like that, chill sweetheart. Honestly I enjoyed that too, it was amazing. Sullana wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I trust her. I think you need to get to know her too. When she gets back let’s do dinner, ok? Just the three of us.” He leaned over to kiss them softly, and Morgan nodded, then ran their hand up and squeezed his bum. “Well I’ve got you here now, and I had plans for you this evening, it’s not too late…” They winked suggestively. “What you feeling like tonight, pet?” Sean teased. “Well I think a bit of penetration wouldn’t go amiss” they grinned back, and ran their hand over his crotch. “Yours or mine?” Sean grinned. “Why not both?”  
“You’re on.”


	10. Cairo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess returns to her old haunts, meets an old acquaintance.

Sullana hadn’t been to the Middle East in a while, she really shouldn’t focus so much on the UK and America, she needed to spread her time about the globe a bit more. She fumbled for the ancient key to her Cairo residence, in a very old part of town. It was an old Mameluke house, with a central open courtyard that contained a small fountain and lush greenery around glazed tiles. The rooms were spread over 2 floors galleried and open to the central courtyard below, with intricate mashrabiya work over several of the windows, the pierced carved wooden mesh allowing privacy and a cool breeze.  
  


She’d owned the house since new, and had spent a century or two living there full time in the past, but now it desperately needed airing. She’d need to find a new Bawab soon. The current incumbent, Ayoub, who kept the place maintained for her when she wasn’t there, and lived on site, was very elderly now and had no family left behind to carry on the job as was usual. She’d picked him precisely because he had no family to care for him, to give him a good secure job and income, but she felt bad for not checking in on him sooner. It was probably time to see if he’d like to move to an opulent nursing home at her expense. The invitation was always there, she committed to caring for her staff through their entire lives, and always ensured that those who did have family, that they were left well provisioned afterwards.

Ayoub knew what she was, he wasn’t stupid. After the first 30 years at the job when she didn’t age, she figured he’d had plenty of time to come to terms with the idea and told him everything he’d need to know. She lounged on the sofa as he bustled around, removing dust sheets from the rest of the furniture.  
“Shukran” she smiled at him.

“Aafwan” He nodded, and withdrew to work on the other rooms.

She sighed. The BA155 to Cairo may have offered a variety of refreshments on board, but none that suited her requirements. She didn’t want to have to bother to go out hunting on her first evening back, but she’d have to start somewhere. A few hours later she called to Ayoub that she was heading out. The tourist hotspots were generally a good start, as that’s where the local kindred found their easy prey.

Cairo by night was a beautiful, bright, noisy bustling city. The heat of the day could be so oppressive that many stayed up late and did much of their shopping and socialising after dark in the comparative cool of the night. Neon lights abounded, and the air was thick with the scent of oudh, other incense, shisha pipe bars, spices and street food. The minarets of mosques glowed with green neon, bright spires towering above the skyline, scooters honked and wove through the chaotic traffic. She closed her eyes for a moment and stood immersed in the sensations that she missed so much, drinking it all in.

Eventually she picked up a scent and made her way toward a busy square lined with cafes and shisha bars, where old men played endless games of backgammon on tables outside, whilst street cats wove between their legs, occasionally enjoying affection as an ancient hand reached down to pet them between moves, or curling up contentedly at their feet.

She was surprised to find the scent she was following became more familiar, but was still slightly startled to find the kindred at the end of the scent trail was of British origin, not a local. Memories stirred. He was sitting at a table with a gaggle of young Norwegian girls on holiday, flirting shamelessly with them. He hadn’t changed much – still as handsome and dapper as ever. He had kept to the pale linen suit and Panama hat ensemble he’d favoured the last time she’d seen him several decades ago. He’d been here at the height of the roaring twenties when Cairo and Heliopolis were part of the big society whirl, the place to be seen, for decadent all night parties and other excesses. He’d been embraced by a local Egyptian kindred back then, and opted to remain ever since.

He was about 5’9”, with blonde, almost white hair, striking blue eyes, medium build and smiling, open expression. Clean shaven and the manners of a gentleman that captivated any human he was inclined to target. He wore smart tan ankle boots and gold cartouche cufflinks that spelled out his name: Graham.

He shifted in his chair uneasily and glanced up, seeking something. Then their eyes met and he froze. The Goddess grinned at him from across the street. He shut his mouth again abruptly, aware that his jaw had been open, and smiled at his companions. “Excuse me ladies, it has been an utter delight chatting with you, but I really must be going, please do enjoy the rest of your evening.” He stood and tipped his hat to them, left some notes on the table for the drinks and strode over to where the Goddess stood.

“Still trying your wiles on innocent young ladies then, Graham?”  
“Naturally, Dorothea. I haven’t seen you in these parts for some time.”  
She hadn’t used that name in so long.  
“Been busy elsewhere. How’s things here? What’s the local scene like at the moment?”  
He shrugged. “Bit rowdy, you’d have to talk to Anwar, he’s the new incumbent as regent in these parts since Laila left.”  
Sullana raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Laila left, where’d she go?”  
“Dubai, we think. Said things were too slow here for her and she always did like the high life.”

They began to walk together, he took her arm as naturally as if they hadn’t last done this a few decades previously. “So where are you based at the moment?” he enquired politely.  
“London mostly, spent some time over in the USA for several years before that, but for the most part they’ve got the idea there now, well organised and obedient.” Graham chuckled. “Well you always were good at instilling obedience, although one wouldn’t object to a bit of a reminder lesson.” He winked at her and raised her hand to his lips in a polite kiss of her knuckles.

“Have you eaten?” she asked him. He shook his head. “I had hoped I’d be about to before you arrived, Thea.”  
“Apologies. I know you’re a good boy. You go and take care of what you need to. I’m still at the same place, pop round when you’re done. I’m rather peckish myself.”  
Graham lit up from with. “With pleasure, my dear. I am, as ever, your humble servant.”  
“And tasty snack”  
“In more ways than one, I hope?” he winked at her.  
“Perhaps. If you’re good.”  
She disentangled her arm from his. “Off you pop, see you later.”  
He tipped his hat to her and stalked off into the night.

He pressed the doorbell an hour or two later, and the Goddess answered in bare feet, a cleaning cloth in one hand. “Well hello again” she smiled at him, and beckoned him in.

He followed her to the utility, without looking back she snapped her fingers at him. “Oi. Boots.”  
He looked blank, she had already picked up one of her own from the floor and was wiping it down with a damp cloth.  
“Huh?”  
She glanced at him, impassive.  
“I’m undressing you in increments, feet first.”  
He stood on one leg and wriggled out of his boots one at a time, handing them over.  
“Then I’m going to devour you from the ground up.” Deadpan.  
He stared.  
She proceeded to rub saddle soap into the leather of her own footwear with a sponge, smirking.  
He found his voice.  
“Does that mean you’ll also need to wash my trousers then?”  
She gave him a wry smile.  
“Why, have you messed them up already? I didn’t think I was _that_ good.”  
She picked up one of his boots and started cleaning it on the counter.

When she did nothing more than continue to clean and condition both their footwear, he took a seat on the countertop to watch.  
“Why?”  
“They’re dirty.”  
“You usually are as well” he teased.  
She shot him a look.  
“Sometimes.”  
He sighed.  
“You didn’t invite me here to clean my damned boots, Thea. How long have we known each other? Nigh on a century now. I know when you’ve something else on your mind. Out with it.”

She finished wiping off the leather conditioner and handed his boots back. “You’re good to talk to. I mean I fancied a snack as well, but…” She dropped her hands in exasperation. “I don’t know.”  
Graham placed his boots on the floor and stepped forward. He embraced her fondly and breathed in the scent of her hair. “What is it?”  
“A human.”  
“Again?”  
She nodded into his neck.  
“They don’t last long, as a rule”  
She shook her head.  
“Make every day count then.”

She lifted her head back and looked into his kind eyes. “I plan to.”  
She leaned back in and breathed hot on his throat, her tongue darted out to lick his salt sweet skin, and a shiver passed down his spine. When her fangs sank through the flesh he gripped her tighter and moaned as his eyes closed against the euphoric sensation. He’d missed this. It was over all too quickly, and he whined miserably as she withdrew, his head spinning.  
“That’s enough. You’ll pass out otherwise.”  
He braced his hands against the counter and tried to assemble his thoughts.  
“Dawn isn’t far off, you can stay here through the day if you need to.”  
He nodded, and found himself swept up into her arms, as she carried him up to a bedroom with blacked out windows and laid him on the cool soft Egyptian cotton sheets.  
“Join me?” he invited, dizzy.  
She gazed at him, lying there, his eyes calm and sympathetic, and sighed.  
“Just hold me” she murmured, and slid, fully clothed, under the sheets next to him. Gentleman as he was, that’s all he did.

“Did you want to talk it out then?”  
She shook her head. “Not sure I can find the words to be honest. Just… I remember what happened last time. Don’t want it to happen again. Won’t let it happen again, not like that. I want to do it right, right for him, even if that means…” She stopped. Graham stroked her hair as she rested her head on his chest. She tilted her head to look up at him. “I didn’t ever tell you what happened about twenty five years ago did I?” He shook his head.  
“I was an idiot.” He chuckled. “You? Never.”  
“Well, before, there had been other humans. They die so soon. You watch them grow feeble and frail until they’ve forgotten even who you were, then they’re gone. So when I met… the last one who truly held my interest – not just a fling, but one I cared for, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. So while he was still young, I…”  
She looked into his eyes.  
“Did you ever…?” she asked quietly.  
“No. I’ve felt tempted, but saw someone else do it, saw how it turned out. Friend of mine. Couldn’t bear to lose his love, embraced her without truly letting her understand what was involved, what it meant. Drove her mad. She walked out into the dawn one day, that was it.”

The Goddess nodded.  
“Well you see, that’s not exactly what happens when I do it. You know if I embrace someone they don’t become a vampire. No dawn is going to fix that.”  
Graham raised his eyebrows, curious. “I hadn’t ever considered that.”  
He paused  
“So, what…?”  
“Demigod.”  
His jaw went slack.  
“You created a demigod?”  
She nodded.  
“Then it went sour.”  
“Oh.”  
“Yes.”

Graham carried on stroking her hair soothingly.  
“So you found another one you care about?”  
“Yes.”  
“Special?”  
“Definitely. I marked him.”  
Graham’s eyebrows shot up toward his hairline.  
“Have you ever done that before?”  
“Never. Never felt the need to, but this one could do with the extra protection.”  
“What, thousands of years on this godforsaken planet and you’ve never marked one before?”  
She snorted and swiped him.  
“Oi! Not exactly godforsaken thank you very much. _I’m_ here aren’t I?”  
“Apologies, my dear, manner of speech.”  
“But no, I haven’t. You?”  
“Of course, several, but I imagine it’s rather different for kindred to gods. We have human retainers and companions that need protecting from other kindred. Who does yours need protection from?”  
“Kindred.”  
“As well? Why?”  
The goddess shifted uneasily.  
“La’a. Doesn’t matter. Go to sleep.”  
He pouted. “Shan’t. Tell me.”  
“Bukra, inschallah, mumkin.”  
“Go on.”  
She glowered at him. “Go to sleep or I’ll make you.”  
He stuck his tongue out at her.  
The Goddess tipped her head on one side and stared at him.  
He passed out immediately.  
“Told you so” she whispered, smiling. She gently kissed his cheek, then rested her head on his chest and drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes
> 
> Bawab caretaker
> 
> Shukran - Thank you  
> Aafwan - You’re welcome  
> La’a - No  
> Bukra - tomorrow  
> Inschallah - god willing / if god wills it  
> Mumkin - maybe/perhaps  
> Yallah - let’s go  
> Aiwa - yes/ok  
> Khalas - enough/stop  
> Imshi - fuck off/begone  
> Oudh - incense


	11. Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess catches up on events in Cairo and dispenses some Justice. 
> 
> *Content Warning / Trigger Warning. There is a crime alluded to but not explicitly named in this chapter. It is never actually said what it is, but some people may draw their own conclusions. The activity is not mentioned, the victims are not mentioned, there is no detail. The perpetrator cannot repeat the crime. Absolutely NO specifics of the crime are mentioned. I’m of the feeling that not naming the crime is less triggering than actually putting a name to it, because it is skirted around. If, however you feel that the name of the crime should be included, please let me know. I have been a victim of this crime and do not personally feel it is warranted, but will absolutely add it if it others feel it is.

She woke him at sunset the next evening. He sat up, bleary eyed.  
“You… Damnit woman!”  
She looked innocent.  
“You needed the rest.”  
He rolled his eyes at her.  
She grinned. “Anyway, I told you so.”  
“Yes, dear.”  
He paused.  
“You said you’d tell me today”  
“I said tomorrow, god willing, maybe. This god is not willing, so no.”

She passed him his clean boots again. “Come on, you’re taking me to wherever they hold court these days, better meet the new chap, Anwar was it?” Graham nodded “Don’t know how many you’ll get at court though, it seems there’s many more about here these days than actually deign to follow authority. I get the feeling Anwar wants to clean up, but doesn’t quite know how to go about it. I think you might have arrived in the nick of time.”

She gritted her teeth in a satisfied, but determined grin. “Right. Sounds like it might be fun anyway. Yallah.”  
“Aiwa.”  
They grabbed a taxi across to Mohandessin, across the 6th of October Bridge from Gezira Island, then disembarked and headed toward a beautiful but decaying art deco building cramped among the more modern edifices. The Goddess could smell the accumulation of kindred as they drew closer. There were familiar tugs of those she had marked long ago, but so many more that were unfamiliar to her. “I might have to make a bit of an entrance, set the tone somewhat” She told Graham, matter-of-factly. “It might be best if you don’t come in with me, I wouldn’t want you to get caught up in what I’m about to do. Give me half an hour before you join us. Get a little distance between you and me. You’ll still feel it but it might not be as bad, especially if you’re ready for it as well. Brace yourself ok?”

He nodded “Of course, Thea. I’ll see you in a little while, my dear.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it reverentially. The comforting wave of belief glowing from his body warmed her being and she returned his gesture with a kiss on the cheek. “See you in a bit – in the meantime, go and get fed.”

In the ballroom, approximately a quarter of the population of kindred all twitched in alarm at the same time. They exchanged apprehensive glances. All knew each other from long association, some dating back hundreds, and in one or two notable cases, thousands of years. Anwar was one of them, one of the oldest. He hadn’t always been called that, but his new name fit in better in modern society than his original one, with which he had conversed with pharaohs. Instinctively, each of them, seeing their compatriots experiencing the same sensation at the same time, very hastily put two and two together and their eyes widened in fear. The remainder of the court, unaware of the Goddess by virtue of not having met her or being marked by her before, nonetheless noted every senior kindred in the building freeze in trepidation, and likewise began to feel uneasy.

“What’s wrong?” a neonate whispered to her sire. He turned his gaze on her reluctantly, from where it had been fixed on the main doors. “She’s here.” Is all he managed to get out before the doors swung open.

The Goddess strode in, head high, face severe, unblinking. She walked directly toward Anwar in the centre of the room. The waves of power rolling off her form dropped every creature in the room to their knees. This was not wrath, yet, but an overwhelming aura of power that demanded respect. It wasn’t the anger that knocked human retainers unconscious or reduced kindred to whimpering cowering remnants, but it was nonetheless like a punch in the gut and left none in any doubt as to who they were looking at.

She looked down at the regent. “Amasis”  
“Uh, Anwar, Goddess.”  
“Of course. It’s been a while. Rise.”  
“Aiwa, shukran”  
He stood, and the rest of the court slowly regained their feet.  
“Let’s not waste time. I can smell so many out there, that aren’t in here. Why?”  
“My Lady, Laila had grown lax, I have only just acceded the regency. She was weary of this territory and hadn’t invested much energy in governance in recent decades. I plan to bring the populace to heel. You have known me thousands of years my Lady, I hope you understand that my word is my bond?”  
“I don’t want excuses, I want results. And I don’t want to waste time, I have places to be and other territories to deal with. I’ll start with this lot, then we are summoning the rest. Any who fail to comply will be hunted down and despatched. I’m _back_.”

A chill flashed down his spine. He’d forgotten how it felt to be in her presence, but she hadn’t been this abrupt before. She spun around and growled at the assembled kindred. “All of you who have felt the pleasure of my presence before, step to the back of the hall. Tonight is not your night. The rest of you…” She grinned here, “… tonight you’re mine.” The elder kindred looked vaguely disappointed but removed themselves to the rear of the room, leaving the scared younger generation, and those older ones who had moved here from other areas, standing apprehensively before their goddess.

She wasted no time in grabbing the nearest one and pulling her close. The woman looked startled but helpless in her deity’s grasp. The goddess looked pointedly at her neck. The kindred hastily lifted her headscarf a little exposing a patch of bare neck, earning a smile from the goddess, followed by teeth drawing a taste of her blood, and a rush of euphoria, brief and intense before it was over. The goddess released her, she had a lot to get through and wasn’t going to waste time taking much from each. This was about creating a link with each of them and cementing their obedience of her as much as it was divine sustenance.

She worked her way along them, dispensing brief waves of ecstasy with each drawing of blood, until she came to one where the instant she touched him, she almost recoiled in disgust at what she read lurking in his mind. Her eyes blazed with instant fury and a veritable shockwave of wrath blasted out from her form, this time it did knock everyone to the floor in terror. Her lips were curled in a savage snarl of rage and her claws sunk through the flesh of his shoulder. “No. Not them, _never_ them. Never _that_.” She growled, utterly terrifying, eyes glowing with divine flame. She didn’t even bite him. She ripped him apart with lethal claws, tearing him limb from limb, blood spattering everywhere, unheeded, until she stood among a pile of discorporated body parts. She glared down at the remnants of the kindred and what was left of him flashed into white hot flame and thence into ash. The deep rumbling growl that shook the very floor of the room slowly subsided.

Anwar recovered first. “… My Lady? What – what was his crime?”  
She spun on him, still furious.  
“Do you even need to ask? He was unforgivable.”  
She took two steps over to the regent and placed her hands on his head, shoving the images from the fallen kindred straight into his mind. Anwar paled visibly.  
“…Oh.”  
“I should have killed him slower” she glowered. The remaining kindred quailed in terror, not understanding what was going on, but nervously rose again.

She stalked over to the next one who swayed back in fear. The Goddess had no patience for this now and just reached out to grab him and pull him forwards. His mind didn’t contain anything sickening like the last one had, and she carried on as before, a brief gulp of blood and moving to the next.

A few later she felt something in another one, clearly not as bad as the first, but she froze, hand on his shoulder, glaring into his eyes. “No. You drink, you don’t kill every human you feed from. There’s no fucking need for that. You may kill those who truly deserve it, when you come across truly evil ones, but not all of them like you do.” She looked around the room, the rest of the kindred stood eyes wide in fear. This one had to go. She drank him dry until she consumed his soul and dropped his corpse to the ground to flare away in white hot flame to ash.

The combined wave of belief combined with the soul created another wave of euphoric power like it had in London. The shockwave rolled out across the countryside, reaching for miles and touching the soul of every undead it passed through. A roll of power that stated **_I’m here, fear me._** And in turn, like ripples bouncing back across a pond, a wave of belief surged back again. She used this surge of power to send a summoning to every kindred in the City, calling them inexorably to her. They would not be capable of resisting with that much power behind the command.

She worked through the remaining five kindred, then stalked to the end of the room and slumped on a sofa there, as Graham arrived, cautiously, through the door. She nodded at him vaguely, and waved the rest of the court to continue whatever they wanted to do as she sat and mulled things over, physically vitalised incredibly, but mentally exhausted. The court nervously began to mingle and discuss things, trying to avoid her gaze. Graham made his way over to the sofa, and she waved a hand at the seat next to her to invite him to take a seat.

“What was the rage about?” he whispered across conspiratorially to her. She turned tired eyes to meet his, and what he saw there made him flinch slightly. She reached out and placed a hand to his temple, then dumped the images into his mind. He recoiled, disgusted. “Ugh, if I’d had known, I’d have taken him out myself.” She nodded wearily. “Quite. He’s gone now anyway. World’s a little bit safer.” Graham shuddered. “They were so y…” She cut him off. “Yes. Khalas.” He closed his mouth obediently.

Shortly afterwards, the first of the other kindred began to trickle through the doors, those she’d summoned to her presence. Each instinctively made their way over to her and knelt before the goddess, offering their throats to her. Two more in the ensuing throng were summarily despatched, but none with the savagery that had met the first of the evening. Eventually, with dawn not too far away, she stood and stretched and glared at the assembled court.  
“Khalas. Imshi.”  
They scattered hastily and soon the ballroom was empty save for the goddess, Graham and Anwar. She turned to the regent.  
“Keep a tighter rein on them in future. No mercy, despatch those who break the laws, you need to make examples of them to keep the rest in line. The population for this city is too much. If you’re going to allow this many to reside here then you have to rule them with an iron fist, and if you won’t destroy them, either send them away, or I’ll claim them for myself.” Anwar nodded, subservient, and withdrew.

Graham took her arm. “Mind if I join you again?” She sighed and shrugged. As they headed back to the villa she rested her head on his shoulder in the taxi. “Graham, would you mind keeping an eye on Ayoub for me? And keep on the lookout for another bawab for me, find an orphan or someone who can apprentice under him for a while, someone who can learn from him and will treat him like a father figure ideally.” Graham nodded and kissed her hair. “You planning on going away again so soon?” She nodded, not without regret. “Other places to be, but I’ll try not to leave it so long next time.”

Back at the house she slid into his arms like they’d never been apart, he remembered every inch of her and worshipped her flesh with his own, deft hands caressing her stresses away and soft kisses making her forget. She stroked his bare skin gently in return, feeling liquid in his embrace. “You know we don’t work together, dearest.” He nodded. “I know, just for tonight. For old time’s sake. I don’t want to have to wait a century to worship you like this again, Thea. I don’t want anything more, you know that.” Her body welcomed his. “I know, thank you…” and she sighed into the movements of their bodies together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes
> 
> Bawab - caretaker
> 
> Shukran - Thank you  
> Aafwan - You’re welcome  
> La’a - No  
> Bukra - tomorrow  
> Inschallah - god willing / if god wills it  
> Mumkin - maybe/perhaps  
> Yallah - let’s go  
> Aiwa - yes/ok  
> Khalas - enough/stop  
> Imshi - fuck off/begone  
> Oudh - incense


	12. Sensations and Sean's past.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Morgan learn an interesting skill possessed by the Goddess, who in turn learns of Sean’s troubled background. 
> 
> Content warning / trigger warning, homophobia/biphobia, attack on a gay couple, family difficulties.

Arriving back at Heathrow on the BA154, seeing the lights glinting over the reservoirs on final approach, a familiarity with the sight warmed her slightly. She had other countries she needed to deal with later, but they could wait. Egypt was one she’d always retain a fondness for, she’d spent the best part of three thousand years there in total. It was where she’d started out, in her first corporation, but it was a big world, and few corners of it were not populated in some way by kindred that needed keeping under control. Sometimes though, just sometimes, she wanted to take time to herself. She could jet around the world and dispense divine justice, or take a fucking break and do what pleased her.

She didn’t go back to the Hammersmith house this time. Driving through the night she found herself outside Sean’s door. She walked up the path and saw a light switch on in the hall. He opened the door before she even got to knock, opening it with a tired grin. “Hey, hotness” he whispered. “Felt you arrive, handy trick that.” He drew her forwards into a slow kiss. “Morgan’s asleep upstairs” he explained apologetically. Sullana smiled. “It’s ok, I’ll take the couch, just wanted to see you. I can meet them tomorrow.” Sean shook his head. “Don’t be daft. I’ve got a perfectly good spare bedroom, you’re welcome to crash there.” She kissed him and held him tight. “Thank you darling.”

In the morning Sullana stalked silently down the stairs and paused in the hallway, observing Sean preparing breakfast for Morgan, who was seated with their back to the door, short spiky hair ruffled, wearing boxers and an old t-shirt covering a muscular frame, they clearly worked out regularly. Sullana paused and leaned on the doorframe, until Sean turned to pass a plate over to Morgan and spied her there. “Morning, love. Meet Morgan.” Morgan spun around and laid eyes on the goddess for the first time, a warm smile spreading across their face. They extended a hand. “A pleasure to meet you at last, you’ve been making my man pretty happy”. Sullana shook her hand. “Glad to hear it, thank you for making him happy too.” Morgan beamed. “He’s told me all about you, what should I call you?” “Just Sullana is fine. And I’m ‘she/her’.” Morgan nodded. “They/them.” Sullana took a seat and watched the pair of them eat.

Morgan paused between bites. “So, you don’t eat…?”  
Sullana shook her head.  
“Can’t.”  
“Could you ever?”  
She shook her head.  
“So you don’t know what you’re missing out on – do you ever wonder?”  
Sullana shrugged.  
“There is a way I can kind of experience it.”  
She reached out and took Sean’s hand as he ate, closing her eyes, head tipped slightly on one side, a half smile playing across her lips.  
“I can feel his enjoyment, can almost discern what I guess you’d call flavours? I can experience what he’s experiencing in real time, kind of share his nerve endings while I’m in contact.”  
Morgan let this sink in for a moment, deep in thought, as Sullana released Sean’s hand.  
“Can you feel other stuff too?”  
The goddess nodded again.  
“Pain, pleasure, anything you can experience. I can tell where someone is hurting for example just by touching their skin. I can turn it off and choose not to experience it if I wish as well though.”  
  


Sean’s thoughts evidently went to the same place as Morgan’s at the same time, they locked eyes. Sullana laughed at them. “I don’t even need to be touching you two to read that thought process.” She reached out and placed Morgan’s hand on her left arm, and held Sean’s hand with her left hand. Then, with her right hand, slowly drew her nails up his other forearm. Morgan’s eyes flew wide as they felt the sensation on their own arm, projected through by the Goddess, who studied their face and grinned.

Sullana then repeated the action on Morgan’s arm, and watched as Sean felt the same sensation through the link. Morgan gave a wicked smile, and glanced at the Goddess. “Do you mind if I try something?” Sullana shrugged. “Be my guest.”  
  


Morgan grinned, maintaining the contact, reached out under the table toward Sean’s crotch, eyes on Sullana for permission for what they were about to try. Sullana nodded assent that it was all ok with her. Morgan gently teased Sean’s cock through the fabric of his jeans, then gasped out loud and shuddered as they felt the shockwave of unfamiliar sensation through their own groin, experiencing sensation through nerve endings that they didn’t physically possess.  
“Oh my FUCKING GOD!”  
Sean’s eyes were wide, mind racing with possibilities. Sullana sat quietly amused.  
“Hey...” Sean began, looking at her quizzically.  
“… Does this explain why your blow jobs are so fucking amazing?”  
Sullana laughed and raised her hands in surrender.  
“Guilty.”  
“You fucking _minx_!” Sean laughed and batted at her playfully.

Morgan’s mind was awhirl with possibilities as they gazed at Sullana with a new dimension of interest. “I, uh. Didn’t think I’d be getting around to asking something like this quite so soon, but I get the impression you’re pretty open minded about such things…” Sullana nodded silently. “… Would you, perhaps, be in any way interested, even if just once, um… if you’re comfortable with it, uh…”

Sullana reached out and laid a hand on their arm soothingly, meeting Morgan’s deep blue eyes with her own grey/green/blue ones. “It’s ok. And yes. You wouldn’t be the first.” Morgan swallowed nervously. “But not right now, eh? Something to look forward to later, I know you two have to get to work, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for holding you up.” She winked, and gave Morgan’s hand an affectionate squeeze.

Sean cut in “are you busy with anything today, Sullana?” She shook her head. “Not especially no.”  
“Fancy coming and helping out at the garage for a bit? Mike’s off and I get the impression you know more than you’re letting on.” The goddess smiled, stood, and stepped close to Sean, rested her hand on his, head tipped on one side for a moment, then nodded. “Well now I do. You’re right, I already knew a fair amount about car maintenance, but now it’s topped up with how you like to do things, so let’s go. Got some spare overalls?”

A few hours later and Sean glanced over to where Sullana was changing the brake discs and callipers on a Vectra B. She caught his gaze. “In case you’re wondering, this is one I already knew.” She clamped off a brake pipe with grips, and nudged a tub underneath to catch any brake fluid that might drip out. Sean admired her dextrous hands, and thought about how lucky he had been to find her. “Lunch break in ten minutes” he reminded her. She laughed shortly, concentrating on her work. “Don’t need lunch, remember?” “Yeah, but how about you come sit with me while I have some anyway eh? Take a break, love.”

She lounged back in the office chair and considered him as he tucked into the sandwich he’d made himself that morning. Abbie had gone home for lunch instead, leaving them alone in the garage. The office chair had been handmade out of an old leather car seat, and still retained a recline function. She laid back with a sigh and stretched. Sean grinned at her over his mug of tea. “Careful, you’ll get my motor running writhing around like that and I’ll just have to ravish you right here in the office.” She winked at him. “Finish your lunch, you’re skinny enough as it is already, it’s like hugging a bag of coathangers.” “Sexy coathangers.” He rebutted. “Yes, alright, sexy coathangers, but coathangers nonetheless.”

He studied her features carefully as he ate. “Something on your mind, pet?” She turned her head to observe him carefully. “Why a vampire hunter?” Sean stopped. Then finished chewing, swallowed, and put his sandwich down carefully. “Why do you ask?” “Because it’s not the kind of thing someone just decides to take up one day as a hobby. How did you find they exist, and decide to tackle them single handed?” He shifted in his seat uneasily. Swallowed again and tried to find his voice.

“J…” a gulp. “James.”  
“James?”  
A nod.  
“My first boyfriend. I was 16. We’d been going out for a couple of months, and, I guess, long story short, we were out late one night, making out by the river where I grew up… up North, near Darlington. Couldn’t go to his house or mine, our parents wouldn’t have approved, we had to hide it all. I’d had a girlfriend before so my parents didn’t realise I was bi, or pan. They assumed I was straight. His parents, they’d found out about me and went ballistic, wanted to stop him from seeing me, so we had to lie, hide, keep it under wraps.”

He paused to gulp some rapidly cooling tea. Sullana smiled sympathetically.

“We’d already been caught out once, some homophobic bastards found us making out in the park one night, chased us, beat us both up. Fractured his skull, he was in hospital for a bit. He was so handsome. Short, dark hair, beautiful blue eyes, glasses, cute square face, gentle hands, the most gorgeous fucking smile and wicked sense of humour. He could make a fucking statue burst into laughter I swear. Brilliant at impressions, he could make his voice do anything. He’d have made a great comedian. But even after that, when we got chased again, he tried to protect me. We escaped that time with just a few bruises.”

Sean shifted in his seat again, glancing out of the window. Sullana could see his eyes glistening. She quietly got up from her chair, and crossed the short distance between them, knelt before him and rested her head on his thighs, arms reaching around his waist to hold him close. She felt him draw breath and continue.

“We were by the river, and heard someone coming. We stopped kissing and tensed up, thinking we might be in for trouble again, but we didn’t have any idea how different it would be. It was two of them, they didn’t look like drunk teens or rowdy lads, but like serious, older guys, like businessmen or something. Not exactly the type we were used to having a go at us. Looked like they were just going to walk by past the back of our bench, but then the taller one grabbed James from behind, and straight into his neck quick as a flash. The other went for me but I managed to dart forwards. There was a lot of debris around the river bank and I grabbed a broken bit of wooden pallet to defend myself with. James was on the bench, arched backwards, held by his neck from behind by the other bastard. The one facing me hesitated, the bit of wood seemed to worry him more than it should have, then I realised what was going on. I didn’t care whether I believed it or not – I could see the other fucker drinking his _blood_.”

Sullana squeezed him gently. She felt a teardrop land on her head, and kissed his abdomen gently through his overalls. His hand fell to her hair and stroked it distractedly.

“I just stabbed at the one coming for me, and must have got his heart by accident. Well you know what happens next. I hadn’t expected the fucker to burst into flames, I was a bit dumbstruck for a second but then went for the one who had James, but it was too late. He saw me and let go, but James was gone, he’d drunk him dry. He just hissed at me and ran off. Left me with a corpse. I didn’t know what to do. I kissed him, begged him not to die but he’d gone already. I didn’t know what would happen, if the cops would come and think I’d murdered him somehow so I just ran too.”

His voice cracked and broke. Sullana looked up to his face, crumpled and sobbing. “I’m so sorry love, I didn’t mean to make you hurt” She whispered, standing, and held his face to her chest, stroking his hair, kissing his head, soothing him. He clung back at her.

It took a while, but his tears subsided eventually. Sullana passed him some paper rag to blow his nose, he looked up at her with red-rimmed eyes. “I couldn’t stay up there afterwards, too much hurt. I moved down South, to get away from all the memories, did a load of research and started trying to hunt the bastards down a few years ago. I never got the one that killed James, I haven’t been back there. My parents disowned me after they found out I’m not straight, so I’m on my own anyway. I’ve killed a fair few down here over the past few years. Probably at least 40. But all I want to do is go back and find that one up North, take him out, find a way to do it as slow as I can, make the fucker pay.”

She bent down and kissed him gently. “You will. I’ll make sure of it.” Sean smiled back at her. “I believe you.” He held her tight, breathing in the safety of her scent, overlaid with the equally comforting garage smells. “Let’s get back to work I guess. Thanks, love.”

She finished changing the Vectra’s brakes and started sweeping up the garage in absence of another job to start on. “Need me for anything else, Sean?” He looked out from under the ford he was working under in the inspection pit. “Nah, I got this one, do you need to head off?” She nodded. “Need to take care of something, shall I meet you back at yours later?” Sean smiled “I was rather counting on it, love. You promised me and Morgan something special earlier.” He winked suggestively. “And you’ll get it, but I need to get something else sorted first, see you later, handsome.” He returned to the ford and heard the Carlton rumble away down the road.


	13. Shared sensations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A gift for Sean, and a special gift for Sean and Morgan.
> 
> ... ever wondered what it would feel like if you could experience your partner's sensations during sex? Someone is about to find out.

Later that evening, Sean was relaxing in the bathtub when he heard the door open, and treads on the stairs. He was expecting Morgan, who had a key, but was surprised when Sullana walked in, as he hadn’t yet given her a key, although he meant to. “Hi, gorgeous, how’d you get in?” As if in explanation, she snapped her fingers. The bathroom door swung shut on its own behind her and locked itself without her touching it. “Ah, ok.” She knelt down next to the bathtub and kissed him deeply. “I brought you a present.”

She lifted a large kilner jar into view. It was filled with water and a couple of lengths of thin corded rope. He looked at her questioningly. “I have a friend in the clergy, who gave me some holy water. I can’t bless it how it needs to be, I might be a goddess but I’m not one who can make what’s needed, it needs to be Abrahamic religion for it to work.”

Sean looked confused. “Huh?”  
“Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism and so on. It’s, uh, part of a deal I made with their Deity thousands of years ago. In return for certain favours, I agreed that vampires would be susceptible to religious artefacts, iconography and so forth, to encourage more humans to believe in their religions. If they perceive it as protecting them from harm, they’d gain more followers, have more faith. In return for the deal, I got… other stuff.”

“So what’s in the jar?” Sean was thoroughly confused.  
“Holy water, and cord, infused in the holy water. It’s something you can use to restrain undead with, they’ll be pretty helpless if you can garrotte them with it, use it like a leash to catch them, restrain them, tie them up, whatever you need. It won’t hurt you, but they’ll be weak as a kitten with it wound around them. You’ll have to be able to get close or take them by surprise first, but it gives you a fighting chance. There’s two in there but you can soak more. I suggest keeping one in a flask on your belt so you’ve got it handy.”

Sean looked up at her, surprised and pleased. “Thank you, sweetheart. I’d never have thought of that.” He reached up a soggy hand to pull her head closer and kissed her then pulled back again. “Care to join me?” he grinned. “I’ve already had a shower before coming over, and there’s hardly room in that tub for the two of us, besides, don’t you want to save yourself for when Morgan arrives?” “Good point, love. Ok let me get dried off.”

Morgan arrived about an hour later, finding Sean and Sullana snuggled on the sofa watching tv. “Hi you two, sorry I’m late, had a bit of difficulty with my last client, he had a fall and I had to call an ambulance for him and wait for it all to get taken care of. Just going to grab a quick shower here if that’s ok?” Sean nodded. “Morgan works as a carer” he explained. “I just realised I never told you. It can be a bit frustrating for them as well, their clients tend to misgender them a lot, but it can’t really be helped, a lot of them can barely remember their own names, so Morgan doesn’t mind too much.”

Sean ambled upstairs. “Have you eaten, love? Or would you like me to make you something?” Morgan shook their head under the shower steam. “I’m ok, grabbed a sandwich at Arnold’s while I waited for the ambulance crew to clear up, I’ll be out in a minute.” Sean nodded and retreated again. Sullana met him at the top of the stairs. “Programme’s finished anyway, thought I’d join you two up here.” She heard the water shut off, and winked at Sean, slinking past him to the bedroom, pulling her t-shirt off over her head as she went. He followed, rapt.

Sean wasted no time in removing his own shirt, she admired his lean frame and kissed his chest adoringly. Morgan walked through clad only in a towel, and smiled at the two of them. “Getting started without me eh? Rude.” Sullana smiled at them. “Just getting him warmed up for us.” She undid her jeans and wriggled them down, then pulled at Sean’s fly and removed his too. Morgan rubbed their short hair with another towel, watching them appreciatively. Sean turned to Morgan, held their shoulders, and kissed them slowly, as Sullana stood behind him and her fingers played up and down his back, tantalising his skin with light strokes and scratches. She rested her head on Sean’s shoulder, and Morgan broke off the kiss to meet her eyes, then slowly reached forward to kiss the goddess, tentatively.

Sullana stepped back and undid her bra, then dropped her panties and reclined on the bed, looking invitingly up at the two humans. Sean dropped his boxers and sat on the bed, his hand holding Morgan’s, his gaze on theirs, reassuring. Morgan shyly dropped their towel to the floor. “You have amazing musculature” Sullana whispered. Morgan smiled, happy that the first comment hadn’t been about their other body parts, which they still felt rather conflicted over. They were proud of their physique though. The goddess had impressive musculature as well, coupled with abundantly feminine curves, which Morgan also enjoyed, although not so much on themselves.

They sank down onto the bed next to Sean, and allowed him to lay them back on the pillows, his gentle hand stroking down their skin, leaning forward to kiss their abdomen. Sean shifted back and knelt on the bed between Morgan and the Goddess’s knees, gazing over the pair of them, a hand on each of their thighs, reverent. Sullana looked across at Morgan and smiled, reaching out to brush the back of her knuckles down their arm, the touch sending a shiver down Morgan’s spine. Morgan hesitantly reached out and stroked down Sullana’s abdomen, feeling the warmth of her skin.

Sean’s hands stroked up their thighs, between each of their legs, and felt between the folds of their labia simultaneously, they both gasped as one, and smiled at each other. Sullana shifted over, then half rolled on her side, reaching out to stroke Morgan’s face, then kissed them tenderly. She pulled back. “Nice as this is, I think there’s something better we can do.” She shifted back, and Sean allowed his hand to withdraw. Sullana indicated that he should recline in her place, then took his hand and laid it over Morgan’s, before spreading his legs and laying herself down between them, her face close to his cock. She reached out to grasp Morgan’s leg in one hand, completing the link, then took his hard member into her mouth. Morgan cried out loud and their back arched in ecstasy, as Sean shuddered in delight – the pair of them experiencing the same sensations at once.

Sullana moved her hand to Morgan’s crotch and fingers delved deep, giving them the mind blowing double stimulation of vaginal pleasure at the same time as they were feeling the sensations of the blowjob that Sean was experiencing. At the same time, for the first time in his life, Sean felt what it was like to have sensations from different genitalia, and cried out in ecstasy. The pair of them writhed and sobbed in mind blowing incomprehension, heads tilted toward each other, staring unbelieving into each other’s eyes, desperately trying to comprehend the sensations filling their bodies. Their hands gripped tight at each other’s. Sullana gazed up at the pair of them, trying not to grin as she ministered to Sean’s hard cock with her mouth and Morgan’s vagina with her hand. She could likewise feel both of their sensations and between her own legs was dripping wet with pleasure.

She could feel them growing close to release, but wanted to share more with them yet. She slowed her actions and left off, both humans whining with disappointment, but she smiled reassuringly at them. “Morgan, sit on Sean’s face.” Morgan hastily complied, and gasped as his skilled tongue darted out to lick her wickedly. Sullana straddled him, grabbed Morgan’s shoulders, and lowered herself onto Sean’s cock, allowing Morgan to feel both her own sensation of fullness, and Sean’s sensation of penetration at the same time, so Morgan suddenly had not two but three sets of sensations in their crotch at once, and screamed out in pleasure, shaking. Sullana quickly shifted her grip to Morgan’s waist so she could help support them from collapsing.

Once they were steadied, Sullana began rocking her hips, riding Sean hard, and reached forward to kiss Morgan deeply as Sean licked them out from underneath. Sean was also feeling Sullana’s sensations, and Morgan’s and whimpered in the overwhelming insanity of it all. Neither of them would last long, Sullana knew, certainly not the first time. She’d done this once before, admittedly with supernatural beings, not humans, she was frankly amazed they’d lasted this long.

Sure enough she felt both their orgasms building fast, triggering her own, and all three felt like they exploded at once. Sullana gushing over Sean’s cock as he spurted into her, and Morgan screamed again and squirted into his welcoming mouth, collapsing forward to be held firm by Sullana, sobbing onto her shoulder, breath shaking, as Sean’s hips bucked upwards reflexively, his hands gripping hard on Morgan’s hips.

Sullana supported Morgan to shakily dismount and lie back on the bed, before lifting herself off and lying on the other side of Sean, smiling in contentment at the two of them, who gazed at the ceiling, breathing hard, trying to get their heads around what just happened to them.

Sean found his voice first. “ _That_ … was the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had in my fucking _LIFE_.” Morgan nodded, still lost for words. After a moment they managed. “I always wondered what it’d feel like to have a cock and oh my fucking _god_.” Sullana smiled “Goddess” she corrected. Morgan nodded. “Oh my fucking Goddess. I was atheist until tonight but fucking hell. I want to worship you every fucking night.” Sullana smiled “I know, I can feel it.”

Morgan looked at her. “Really?” Sullana nodded. “I can feel worship, been feeling it radiating off Sean since we met, it builds up in waves when he’s especially, uh, enjoying me, and yours built up rather exponentially this evening. You should have felt what is was like when both of you came. Feels like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.”

Morgan clambered over the pair of them so that Sullana was now sandwiched between two humans. They leaned over Sullana, then pressed forwards to kiss her deeply. “Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.” Sullana stroked their face tenderly. “I might.” Morgan laughed. “Yeah I guess you can, can’t you? I keep forgetting. They slid down the goddess’s body, she opened her legs obediently, as Morgan licked slowly up her folds, tasting the mess there, and up to her clit. They reached out to Sean, as Sullana did the same. His eyes opened in shock as he got to experience what it felt like for an experienced tongue to go to work on a clit. He gripped Sullana’s hand tightly, his eyes rolling back in his head, body twitching, moaning, and his cock soon hardening again.

His moans became incessant as Sullana’s orgasm began to crest. Morgan was also feeling what she was giving between their own legs, and Sean cried out abruptly as he came at the same time as they did, spurting thick ropes of come over his own body. He shuddered along with their aftershocks, moaning.

Sullana continued through the night, taking the three of them to the heights of pleasure in as many ways as she could think of, until the humans were exhausted. They fell asleep in a satisfied, sweaty pile, but to make them all more comfortable, she used a small pulse of power to clean everything up so they woke feeling fresh and relaxed.


	14. Friend from the East summoned from the West.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Phil encounter one of the Goddess’s exes. Sullana needs help to sort things out.

Sean took the opportunity to spend some quality time with Phil. They’d gone to a movie premiere in Leicester Square. Phil had managed to wrangle some tickets to a big movie launch through a friend in the industry, but it was late when they finally got out.

Walking through the chilly autumnal London streets after dark, Sean could smell undead across the city, both distant and closer, but being aware of them, was content to simply monitor and ignore. He didn’t hunt when he was with Phil, who couldn’t wrap his head around supernatural stuff and remained a sceptic.

That was, until a certain scent remained with them on their walk back to the tube station to catch the late service back toward home. They hadn’t driven so they could both have a drink and enjoy the evening. Sean grew uneasy, the scent was strange, part kindred and part something else that reminded him slightly of Sullana. Except she had gone off to Brussels to deal with kindred issues there as she had in Cairo. Whatever it was, the scent was following them at a distance. He felt for the lariat of holy water infused cord in the bottle on his belt, but he didn’t have a stake with him.

“What’s up, love?” Phil enquired, noting his lover was on edge. “Just a bad feeling, I dunno…” Phil tensed a little and looked around, but failed to see anything that warranted Sean’s unease. He tightened his grip on Sean’s arm nonetheless.

Sean, however did notice something. The area they were walking through, despite still being in the middle of London, was strangely bereft of other humans. That was a bad sign. His eyes darted around, checking the shadows, an uneasy sensation rolling through his gut. Hundreds of miles away, Sullana felt his unease and paused mid conversation with the regent of Brussels. “Shit.”

Back in London, the scent suddenly grew stronger, and faster than a blink, a tall being had grabbed Sean’s jacket collar and yanked him and Phil forwards into an alley between two shops with superhuman strength.

The guy was tall and lean, about 6’3”, with a sharp face and intense blue eyes, his hair cut in a very short Mohawk close to his skull, dressed in casual jeans and a t-shirt with leather waistcoat over the top. He had a strong clean jawline and chin, with a hint of designer stubble. His perfect lips were curled in a menacing snarl, his canines a little too long for comfort. He sniffed, mouth open, at Sean, looking both curious and angry. Phil squared up to him but the creature turned his gaze on the human, looked him up and down, and finding him of no interest, decked him with a lightning quick punch to the face that caused Phil to crumple and fall to the ground without a sound, unconscious. Sean fell to the ground next to him, cradling his head, thankfully feeling his pulse still strong. He looked up at the interloper. “What the _FUCK_ dude?” He fumbled for the cord under his jacket.

The guy didn’t entirely smell like a vampire, but those fangs said otherwise. He reached out and grabbed the collar of Sean’s shirt, ripping it away savagely, exposing his neck and shoulder, and the mark of the goddess that lay there. He growled and a familiar wave of terror rolled out across the alley. Sean gritted his teeth to resist it, which earned a slightly surprised raised eyebrow from the creature.

“So you’re the flavour of the fucking month are you? I guess she taught you how to resist that too?” he had an East London accent, with a growl in his voice.  
Sean stood abruptly and launched at him, flinging the rope around his neck. All that got him was a quick punch to the gut that flung him back across the alley to crash into the wall, winding him, as the creature lifted the holy water infused cord in bafflement, completely unbothered by it. “What the fuck is this?” Sean wheezed against the wall, confused. “Doesn’t matter” the creature muttered, and flung it aside. “What’s your name, human?” “Sean” he gasped, regaining his breath at last. “Who the fuck are you?” It grinned. “I’m John. And I was here first.”

He slowly shrugged his waistcoat off, then peeled off his t-shirt, revealing a slender but nonetheless very well-muscled torso with defined pecs and six pack, powerful biceps and forearms. He half turned his back toward Sean, revealing his back, which was horrifically scarred, with the name “Sullana” carved across his shoulders with a slight green tinge, like a bad scarification. Sean started, wide eyed. “Yeah, she marked me first, mate. Not a fucking bite though, not a proper one, just a reminder of who I belonged to, who I should be fucking _grateful_ to.” He spat the last words with venom.

In two strides he was towering above Sean, leaned down and grabbed him by his throat then pulled him up until the human’s feet were dangling off the ground, pinned against the wall by John’s inhuman strength. “But she hasn’t given you what she gave me, has she?” he hissed, face close to Sean’s. “That fucking mark might scare off the vampires, but personally, I don’t give a flying fuck about the consequences of fucking up her latest toy.” His hands morphed into wicked claws like the goddess’s and he trailed one sharp claw down Sean’s chest, down to his groin, where he pressed a little harder, creating a sharp spike of pain that made him whimper.

Sean had never felt as grateful as that moment when he felt a familiar tug in the pit of his stomach, and Sullana appeared suddenly in the alley behind John, her face furious, eyes already flaming in anger. John dropped Sean abruptly and spun around, claws wide. “Hi bitch. Thought that’d get your attention.”

Sean felt the wave of wrath rolling off Sullana so powerful that despite his training he still couldn’t resist it and collapsed into the foetal position, whimpering. John laughed and smirked. “Doesn’t work on me, remember, you cunt?” Her growl was rumbling the very ground they stood on, but John lifted his chin and stepped toward her, unafraid. “You wanna fucking go, then? Come on.”

Sean heard Phil moaning and noticed he was coming round, he reached out again to touch him and try to reassure him against the waves of malevolent power filling the alley, as the two supernatural beings faced off above them.

“I thought I told you to stick to the East End” Sullana growled, furious. “Yeah, well, I smelled your little fucktoy here on the edge of my territory – your fucking stink all over him. You have to keep your crap out of my back yard too.” She glowered. “He’s not IN your fucking territory.” “Yet. Close enough.” He snapped back. Her lips lifted higher exposing her viciously long, sharp fangs in their entirety. “You just wanted an excuse didn’t you?” “Yeah, what if I did? You gonna fuck this one up and chuck him aside like you did with me too?”

The goddess saw red.

The wrath wasn’t a rolling wave this time, it was an explosion that knocked Phil unconscious again, and this time also knocked Sean out cold, he collapsed onto the wet tarmac.

She launched at John, claws wide and ripped into him savagely, tearing at his flesh, biting anywhere she could reach in an incoherent rage, but he gave as good as he got. They were fairly well matched and dark purple blood splattered across the ground and walls of the alley as they tumbled and fought. The only edge she had over him was that she was a Goddess whilst he was only a demigod, but created by her own power. He knew everything there was to know about her, her own blood filled his veins. He was the vampire Demigod of the East End – the only territory in the world set aside from the Goddess’s own domain for his exclusive use, an uneasy agreement to try to keep them apart.

He pinned her down and slashed at her upper body with his wickedly sharp claws, trying to bite at her neck as her own claws slashed desperately at his face to try to keep him from her neck. She twitched and in a blink she was out from under him, standing a few feet away. “You want to use your fucking transportation trick to get out of this, bitch?” he hissed, and in a flash leapt over to Sean’s limp body, he grabbed it close and held his claws over his neck. “I’ll rip his fucking throat right out.”

Sean came to at this point, and immediately his eyes flew wide in shock. His gaze flicked over to Sullana standing a few feet away, dripping with blood from a multitude of injuries, but then so was John. Her eyes were glowing with golden flames but she looked lost, hesitant. She looked to the West and screamed out “Ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ϫⲟⲩ ⲑⲟⲕ ⲩⲉⲇⲉ ⲉⲗⲁ ⲩⲉⲇⲉ ⲓⲛⲏ” John stared at her, uncomprehending. Sean felt a pulse of power, and suddenly a huge black hound like creature stood in the entrance to the alley. Its ears long and pointed straight up. It vaguely resembled a large Doberman, but its eyes also burned with golden flame. It stalked slowly toward them, growling deep in its throat, teeth bared.

John was now pinned between the creature on one side, and the Goddess on the other, unable to keep both in his view at the same time. His claws flexed, dangerously close to Sean’s throat, but then a wave of blackness flowed up and over them both – millions of scarab beetles flooded out of the ground and covered John entirely, hundreds of thousands of tiny bites simultaneously all over his body, making him cry in alarm and fall back, dropping Sean.

The black creature barked, a sharp, high pitched yelp, and the beetles disappeared. It leaped over to John and seized his throat in its jaws, holding him firm, only just breaking the skin but no more, eyes looking toward Sullana as if for guidance. She smiled and stalked over. She ran an affectionate hand over the creature’s head and muttered something in a language neither John nor Sean could understand. She knelt and placed her own claws over John’s heart.

“I can rip it out, and I know you wouldn’t care.” He growled and interrupted “It felt like you did that already and you know it.” She ignored him and continued. “But if I give it to Anubis here, you won’t get it back. He’ll take it to Ammut who will devour it completely. And you won’t survive that, trust me.” John stared at her, muscles of his jaw flexing in seething anger.

She hissed down at him. “You don’t fuck with me, you don’t fuck with what’s mine. When will you learn?” John snarled back at her. “ _I’m_ yours. I’m _your_ fucking fault. You destroyed my fucking life, you took everything from me.” She looked at him impassively. “And you know I’m sorry about it, I’ve apologised to you in every way I know but you won’t take it. I can’t change what I’ve done, I can’t unmake you. I can’t give you back what you’ve lost, with Anubis’ help I can destroy you, that’s all. But you know I’ll never do it again.”

John laughed bitterly. “Not to _him_?” he glared at Sean. Sullana shook her head. “No. Never.” “So you don’t love him then?” She slapped him. “I won’t _because_ I love him. I don’t want him to turn into _you_.“ Anubis growled and tightened his jaws around John’s neck slightly. Sullana’s claws sunk in a millimetre through the skin over John’s heart, her head tipped to one side in question. “Do you want me to do this?” He snarled. “No.”

She released her grip and stood up. “Then fuck off back to the East End. Consider this your final warning. If you pull shit like this again then Ammut will have your heart regardless. Do you want another reminder that I’m serious? Her claws suddenly glowed green and she held them threateningly. “You did that once already, remember?” He shut his eyes and concentrated. The injuries over his body healed over slowly, all save the scarification on his back, which remained. Sullana glanced at Anubis. “ⲗⲓϥⲓ ⲃⲁⲇⲉ” He released John, and licked his lips, savouring the demigod’s blood on his fangs.

John stood slowly. Sullana flicked her hand and the green glow disappeared. Her own wounds began to heal over. With a final hiss, John stalked off into the night. Sean held Phil’s hand, as the bewildered human tried to comprehend what he’d just seen. His eye was swelling purple where he’d been hit.

Anubis stared intently at the Goddess, head on one side, questioning, and growled “ⲇⲁϥⲉ ⲓⲛⲏ?” Sullana knelt before him, and drew her claw down her own neck, opening the vein. He stepped forward and lapped at the blood that flowed there eagerly. “Ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ϯ ⲑⲟⲕ ⲟⲩⲉⲓ ϣⲉ” she whispered. He finished and stepped back, licking his lips. “ⲁϥⲧⲟ ⲉⲛ ⲛⲟⲩϥⲉ” he replied, and vanished.

Sean stared at her. “What the fuck was that?”  
Sullana allowed her neck to heal over. “He was Anubis, Egyptian god of the dead. Just had to call on an ex-boyfriend to help me deal with another ex-boyfriend threatening my current boyfriend. How fucked up is that?” She cast her gaze over Phil. “He’ll be ok.” She reassured Sean.  
  


“What were you saying?”  
“Negotiating terms of payment for his intervention. He got some of my blood, but I also owe him one hundred kindred hearts. That’ll take a while, but you’re worth it. John won’t bother you again. I’m sorry, I should have told you about him, I should have warned you about wandering too close to the East End as well, I hadn’t thought about it.”

She gently cupped Phil’s face with one hand, pushed a small pulse of power and he healed up with a shudder. He still looked utterly bewildered. Sean smiled at him “Believe me about supernatural shit yet, love?” Phil nodded, blankly. “I need a bloody drink.” Sullana helped him to his feet, and turned her attention to Sean. She kissed him slowly, and pushed some power through that way. He felt his bruises and abrasions healing over as it washed through him like a warm wave.

She released him and Sean turned to Phil, holding him close, he kissed him in relief and stroked his hair. “I’m so sorry, love, I didn’t think you’d get caught up in all this mess.” Phil laughed weakly. “What kind of fucking mess _was_ all that anyway?” Sullana interjected. “That was a Goddess and a God taking down a pissed off Demigod. I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The language uttered in places in this chapter was Coptic, the language of Ancient Egypt, still spoken in a similar form today by Coptic Christians in Egypt. The online translation tool isn’t perfect, as putting the translation back in again doesn’t necessarily return the same result put in the first time around, but it’s as close as I can get it. I may have done the Arabic translations from memory, but I don’t actually know Coptic – I meant to learn it when I lived there but never got around to it. I learned the hieroglyphic alphabet however and can read names in cartouches but that’s it. 
> 
> John was the focus of the very first story I ever wrote about the goddess, back in the 1990s. It was written longhand on A4 paper and has long since been lost, it was pretty dark, and culminated in an angry encounter where the enraged goddess carved her name (the same name she happens to be using now), into his back in a fit of rage, to remind him who he belonged to. She then rubbed a liquid into the wounds that would ensure that they scarred despite his supernatural status. She has since learned how to do this with her power directly if she wants to. She threatened Crowley with something similar in Hunting Ealing, but didn’t really mean it – she honestly probably wouldn’t do this to anyone ever again (except John) due to the bad memories associated with it – she regrets it. She’s not proud of any of her mistakes that she made with him.


	15. Go North

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean has some unresolved issues, Sullana resolves to help him through them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this work has been set aside for a couple of months, other projects kind of took over, like Christmas and the entire February ineffable valentines thing, as well as other fics like Lost & Found/Vengeance Found etc. I've had so many compelling ideas I was desperate to work on that this kind of fell by the wayside. 
> 
> Anyhow I'm resolving to get this finished now so anyone who was invested can have some closure, as well as poor Sean. I'm working on more. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sean looked up from underneath a transit van on the lift as Abbie approached. “Right, you’re off home now, Boss. Sorry I’m under orders to get you out of here at 5 on the dot. I’ll finish the transit for you.” Sean looked confused. Abbie grinned at him. “Sullana’s paying my overtime to finish up for you tonight, she said I had to get you home, and you’re taking a couple of days off. Me and Mike have got this, plus Seema is coming over to help out, she graduated higher than I did at College so you know she’s good.” She winked and nudged him with a steel toe-capped boot. “Go on, scram.”

Sean held is hands up placating “Ok, ok, I’m going, I’m going, sheesh.” He wiped his hands on a rag and began wriggling out of his overalls so he wouldn’t besmirch the Manta’s interior on the drive home. Much as it went against his very nature to allow himself to be dragged away from his work, he couldn’t very well defy the will of an actual goddess could he? He mused on the way home, if he was the only, or one of very few, human ‘worshippers’ of the goddess, did that make him like an archbishop or some such shit? Could he declare this some kind of holy day because she’d ordered him to down tools? He grinned to himself at the thought.

When he came home he found Sullana working on the 130. It was still a long way off finished, but she seemed particularly attached to it and would tinker on with little jobs that she knew needed doing when she was at a loose end without him. She stood and turned to watch him drive up the road, lounging back against the land rover, one elbow resting on the front wing, head tossed back as she admired the Manta pulling up in front of her with a slow smile. Sean stepped out. “We need to get this one finished” she said as he embraced her, and tapped the 130 with a knuckle. Sean kissed her, then looked at the car. “Is this what you dragged me home for?”

She shook her head “nope, just killing time until you got here, and trying to speed things up a bit. This one could come in useful, but for now we’re taking the Carlton. I’ve packed you a bag, I’ll put these tools away while you grab a shower then we’re off.”

Shortly after he found himself in the passenger seat of the Carlton as they whisked up the M1 Northwards, the night drawing in and streetlights casting a repetitive orange flicker on the interior. “You going to tell me where we’re going then, pet?” Sullana stared straight ahead as she drove, silent, the corner of her lips tweaked slightly but she shook her head.

Sean shrugged. He knew enough to trust her by now, he tipped his head back and allowed himself to relax after the long day. The contoured leather seat embracing him comfortably, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as they drove on through the night.

He woke when the smooth motorway cruising changed to twisting country roads, yawned and gazed out of the window, trying to get his bearings. “Heighington? What the hell?” he exclaimed as they sped past the road sign and on into the night. “Nearly there” Sullana murmured. Sean was uneasy. This was home turf. It wasn’t where he was from, but it was close enough territory to Darlington and a whole host of unpleasant memories. A minute or two later they passed a sign for Redworth, and were turning up a long driveway to a hotel – an old manor house which had been converted into a luxury retreat.

While Sean was still stretching and getting out of the car, Sullana easily hefted both their bags and led the way inside. “We’re here tonight, then there’s work to do.” She had room service brought up for him and sat watching him eat with interest.

“You’re tense.” She observed.  
“You fuckin’ _think_ , love?” he snapped back. “This isn’t the kind of shit you just spring on someone, you know what happened up here, you know who’s here, but you brought me here anyway.”  
She gazed at him levelly, no emotion showing on her face.

“Yes. Because you could go your entire life putting this off, or you could let me help you take care of it, because I’m _not_ letting this go, not letting _him_ go. If I could do this on my own and just bring you back his fucking head, I’d do it, but without your knowledge, I can’t track him down, and we _will_ track him down. I told you that you have my word.” Sean stared at his plate, not meeting her eyes, no longer eating.

“It’s ok to be scared” she told him softly, her hand reaching for his. He allowed her to take it, unresisting, and nodded. 

The next day she sat with him in the gardens at the hotel, hand in hand on the grass. “You’re the only person who knows what he looks like, I’m going to need to delve in your memories to find it, and it might be painful. Not actual pain, but mentally. I’ll try to be as quick as I can, but we need to know so I can start tracking. It’ll mean hunting down other local kindred and basically cross referencing their memories with yours, to find any who know the same face.”

Sean considered the horizon for a while. There was no doubt that he wanted to do it, he’d wanted to do it for years, but there was no getting around the fact that he _was_ scared. He considered the weight of her hand in his and relaxed his muscles a little. He realised he was scared of doing it alone, and now he didn’t have to. He looked across at her and nodded. She rose, lifting him to his feet by his hand. “Probably best we go back indoors again then, if this ends up making you upset, then I’d rather it wasn’t out on the lawn where other people can see.”

Sullana laid Sean back on the bed and had him do some breathing exercises to relax a little. She then straddled him and placed her hands on his head gently, allowing her consciousness to bridge the gap and probe his mind, seeking out old memories, casting aside the irrelevant ones in rapid succession, delving deeper into his past.

Then they were there, the riverside, the bench, and she could feel Sean flinch at the memory, his face scrunched up in pain at having to relive that night. She tried to make it quick. She could see through his eyes, and now she could see the creature responsible. He was tall, well over 6 foot, black hair, brown eyes, muscular frame, angular nose, jutting chin. She could feel the revulsion from Sean at the sight, and burned it into her memory. Now she had it. She let the memory go, then immediately pulled her lover into a comforting embrace, kissing him deeply, stroking his hair and letting him sob against her, comforting him.

They lay together for a while until his tears subsided. She met his gaze. “Are you ok now, love?” Sean sniffed and nodded.

“It was rough. More vivid than just telling you about it. Did you get what you needed?”

“Got it. Rest now love, we’re starting tonight. Get your head down for a bit, I’ll wake you up for dinner ok?”

“Rest? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Sullana smiled fondly at her lover. “I can help you, if you’re ok with that? Help you sleep.” Sean shrugged and nodded. The goddess placed a gentle hand on his forehead, stroked his hair once and he was gone, relaxed back on the pillows in a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Sean was woken a few hours later by a soft kiss, and a gentle hand on his cock, rubbing delightfully. He felt immensely refreshed and smiled at Sullana who watched him with a wicked grin. She bent down and whispered close to his ear “aperitif? Then we can grab dinner before heading out.” He grinned and caught her lips in another deep kiss by way of answer. Sullana must have removed his clothes for him while he was asleep, and her hand sliding up and down his shaft felt delightful. She slid down and wrapped her warm wet lips around it, making him groan with pleasure as her tongue went to work, and he felt like he was going to melt into the bed.

Her fingers traced teasing circles around his bollocks as she licked and sucked up and down his cock until he was rock hard and aching for more. She of course sensed what was on his mind, and lifted off before straddling his hips, a knee either side of his body, then lowered herself down onto him with a shuddering gasp.

Sean grabbed at her soft hips as she rocked up and down, riding him beautifully, taking all of his length deep inside her. He felt himself bottom out and the delicious pressure around his cock, the slip and drag of skin on skin, sending his thoughts to tattered shreds as he closed his eyes and gasped at the sensations. She was circling her hips like a belly dancer, then lifting herself up and down on his shaft. He braced against the bed and thrust up into her with determination, hands gripping her hips hard.

She was whimpering and crying out with each thrust now, biting her lip, eyes closed tight and muscles tense, he could see she was going to come any moment. He raked his fingernails down her thighs. “Come on beautiful, you filthy, sexy gorgeous goddess, come for me, let go, come for me gorgeous…” He gazed up at her face, teeth bared in a snarl as she shook and clamped down around his cock in a shuddering release in a flood of wetness over and around him. The tightness of her pussy gripping and pulsing around his cock pushed him over the edge and he came with a shout, spurting deep inside her before collapsing back, gasping.

Sullana stilled, stroking his chest, then folded down to kiss him deeply. “Feeling better, handsome?” she murmured into his ear. Sean rumbled happily back at her and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“Definitely.” He nuzzled into her neck affectionately. “Think I’m ready for dinner now, you’ve worked me up an appetite, love.” Sullana stood and helped him to his feet, then stepped into the shower, beckoning him to follow her. She washed him off under the waterfall shower, massaging his shoulders and back with slippery shower gel and feeling him melt under her hands until he was completely relaxed.

Sullana accompanied Sean down to dinner and watched as he ate, a faint smile on her face as she observed him enjoying the fine food. Occasionally he’d reach out to hold her hand as he did, so she could experience some of the sensations from his nerve endings and feel what it was like, an experience she sometimes enjoyed.

Afterwards they geared up and set out in the Carlton toward the town centre, parked up and set off, following their noses to track down any local kindred. Sullana found the first one, lurking outside a nightclub smoking. She was a short skinny blonde who appeared to be in her 40s. She instinctively flinched back from the Goddess, then froze in place as Sullana leant against the wall next to her on one side, and Sean did the same on the other.

“Relax, I just want some information.” The Goddess drawled, then reached out to touch the woman’s face, stroking down her cheek, her touch tingled and the kindred closed her eyes and leaned into the contact, seeking more. Sullana rummaged through her mind, not finding any evidence of the one they were looking for, but she did find information on other local kindred and their usual haunts that she could use as a starting point.

Sullana took in their surroundings and decided not to bother taking a drink from this one. She let her go instead. The kindred gave a shudder and a longing look, reaching out to the Goddess plaintively. Sullana shook her head sternly and pressed her back with a firm hand to the chest. “No. Trust me, you don’t want that from me right now.”

Armed with the new information, she set off with a purpose, and soon picked up a new scent. She tracked down a younger kindred, a guy seemingly in his 20s with a thin, nervous face, who seemed to be stalking some drunken girls staggering between nightclubs. Sullana stalked up and fell into step beside him nonchalantly. He startled but she grasped his arm in an iron grip. “Keep walking” she muttered, and he followed helplessly down an alley where she pinned him to the wall. Sean followed warily.

She grabbed the kindred’s head in both hands, scanning for information. Again she didn’t find reference to the one she was looking for, but again still found more information about others in the area. She tried to aim for the older ones who might know more of the local population. Satisfied she had everything she needed, Sullana regarded the trembling vampire under her hands thoughtfully. She could do with a drink and this was as good a place to start as any.

She stroked up his thin neck and he willingly tipped his head back to expose his throat to her with a needy whine. Sullana complied by bending to lick his throat and then sank her fangs in, slicing easily through the skin to the pulsing vein beneath, filling her mouth with hot warm blood. She took only a short drink, then licked the wound closed and released him. “Get out of here.” She hissed, and watched him scurry away.

“Seems like their local hierarchy holds court in two night’s time, but honestly it’d just be easier to make them call it earlier so I can go through the lot at once. I know who the leader is in this area now, so I want to try to track her down and get her to put a message out. Let’s go.”

* * *

Diana reclined on a sofa in the corner of her nightclub, watching the humans grinding away on the dancefloor. One or two kindred, strictly by invitation, worked their way through the crowd, seducing and sipping under the guise of passionate necking with entranced humans. An invite to the prince’s club was a rare sign of favour and the local court vied to earn the privilege. Diana was short and slim, with dark hair cut in a bob and dark hazel eyes, eyes which darted around the room, noting everything that moved with cold calculation.

Her nose wrinkled and a handsome lean dark haired man in skin tight jeans and a long leather jacket slid onto the seat next to her, carrying a bottle of Newcastle Brown ale. He sat back with a sigh and took a gulp, giving her a perfunctory nod. “This lot yours then, pet?” he enquired nonchalantly. Diana stared at him, wide eyed.

He smelled wrong, something was alarming her senses. This human was owned by someone powerful, and it made her distinctly uneasy. “Who are you? Where are you from?” she hissed, on edge. The human shrugged.

“Me? I was born here, pet, this is my town as much as yours, now I’m back, brought my lover with me too, and she….,” he paused and took another long swallow of his beer, “… isn’t someone you want to mess with, babe.” He aimed a lopsided grin at her and indicated the “staff only” door in the corner. “Time for me and you to take a little trip to your office I think. Don’t try anything stupid. I know what you are, and trust me when I say I’m more trouble than I’m worth. If you harm a single hair on my head there’ll be nothing left for you but complete an utter annihilation.”

He stood up and waved an arm invitingly toward the door to the stairs for her office. Diana rose stiffly, shot a venomous glare at the impudent human, and made her way over. A kindred glanced up and gave her a querying look, she gave a gentle shake of her head and he backed down again, watchful. She stepped through the door, the strange human behind her. She paused as the door automatically closed behind them, and felt something sharp dig into her ribs from behind.

“Don’t…” Sean hissed in her ear. “Bad idea. I’ve got a pistol crossbow loaded with a rosewood stake aimed right at your worthless heart here. Just because we’re behind closed doors now doesn’t mean you can try to take a chance with me. Upstairs. Now.”

She hesitated then walked forward, mounting the stairs with trepidation. “Who owns you?” she enquired as they climbed. “Your scent is overpowering. You’re marked.” Sean grinned humourlessly.

“Damn right I am. She’s waiting upstairs for you. And you’re going to do everything she tells you, whether you like it or not. Trust me on this.”

Diana stepped through the door to her office and immediately fell to her knees as the Goddess’s power struck her like a blow, merely from encountering her aura. Sullana sat in her office chair, long elegant legs lifted up and feet on the expensive looking desk. She raised a perfect eyebrow. “Thank you darling, take a seat.” She nodded toward the sofas in the corner of the room by a coffee table and Sean ambled over to lounge on one, still sipping his beer. He uncocked the pistol bow now that it was surplus to requirements and set it aside. He dropped a wink at his lover and was rewarded with a seductive smile.

“So…” The Goddess began, “… you’re Diana, Prince of this region, correct?” The vampire nodded silently, overawed by the presence of her deity. “Big region, I’m given to understand, the North East. As you’re less densely packed than the major cities. You cover several towns and cities?” Diana nodded again.

“Except Durham and Newcastle, they have their own courts, although Durham also covers more areas between it and Newcastle, and over to the West, the scattered areas. There aren’t so many of us up here, my Lady.” She swallowed nervously. “But we are very well organised, we have low incidence of transgressions, and I do deal with any promptly.”

The Goddess regarded her silently, unblinking. Diana squirmed. She was not used to being in this situation, she was far more used to being the one doing the intimidating, to being in the position that her deity was in now, and she didn’t like it. It had been centuries since she had been that low down the pecking order, and she had forgotten how it felt to be humbled before someone more powerful than herself, or to feel fear.

“Come here” the Goddess whispered softly. Diana felt her feet begin to move automatically. As if puled on a string, she paced toward the desk. “Sit here…” the Goddess patted the middle of the desk invitingly, slipping her feet off and leaning back. Diana obediently sat on the desk in front of her deity, feet dangling off the floor, uncertain. Sullana placed a hand on each of her knees and slid them up her thighs, parting them gently. Diana’s lips parted and a nervous breath escaped.

The Goddess stood in one fluid movement, nestling her hips between those open thighs, a hand on Diana’s face, gazing into her fearful eyes. Her other hand skimmed down the vampire’s back, rocking her closer. Sean sat back and lifted an appreciative eyebrow at the scene, shifting uncomfortably to adjust his jeans a little. A smile quirked at the corner of his lover’s lips as she spotted him from the corner of her eye.

With one hand on the kindred’s face, the Goddess riffled through her thoughts, finding what she wanted with a smile. She let her hand slide down to cup the back of her neck and Diana let her head tip back to expose her throat with a plaintive whimper. Sullana smiled and leaned in to taste, then sunk her fangs in and took a slow couple of swallows as the vampire writhed in her grasp, moaning.

The Goddess broke off with a grunt of effort, it was hard to let go, especially of the more powerful, older ones, whose blood was richer than the neonates. The more powerful the entity, the more powerful the blood. She licked the wound closed, breathing heavily, and let go of Diana with difficulty, taking a step back.

“You realise a sacrifice is customary when your Goddess visits you? Well I have just the creature in mind. You are calling court for tonight. Put out the call, clear your club, you have two hours. I will be waiting here. I will not be disturbed, do you understand?” Diana nodded weakly and slid off the desk, backing toward the door, she bowed deep and exited. Shortly afterward, the thumping bassline of the club ceased and a flood of humans were unceremoniously evicted into the night.

Sullana swayed over to where Sean lounged on the couch, grinning up at her. She slid into his lap and wound an arm around his neck, ruffling his hair and leaning in for a kiss. She could feel his erection rubbing against her through the fabric of his jeans and reached down her other hand to tease it with a wicked smile. “I think we have some time to kill, darling. Would you care to entertain me?” Sean finished his beer and set the empty bottle aside with a decisive clink on the table top, then quickly yanked her shirt up and off her body, burying his face in her breasts. “I need you,” she gasped into his neck, kissing and nipping gently.

“Do you, love? I couldn’t tell” he whispered back with a sly smile. He reached around to squeeze her backside. “Get these jeans off and kneel on the sofa then.” Sullana grinned, stood, kicking off her boots and wriggling out of her jeans. Sean stood and watched as her beautiful soft arse was revealed, then slid his own jeans down, freeing his achingly hard cock, stroking it gently as he watched her kneel on the sofa with her back to him, upper body supported on the back of it.

He ran an appreciative hand up her thigh, squeezed her buttock then slid it up her back, over her shoulder and around her throat from behind as he bent over her, cock nudging at her entrance as he brought his lips closer to her ear. “I hope you’re ready for this,” he teased, rubbing at her clit with his cockhead playfully. “Because I’m fucking _gagging_ for it.” With that he plunged in deep and hard, wresting a cry from her lips.

“Oh you’re so fucking wet for me already, aren’t you?” He grabbed her soft hips hard, thrusting in rapidly, placing open mouthed kisses along her back and shoulder, dragging his teeth against her skin, tasting the salt sweet of her, intoxicating. He couldn’t believe the hot wet tightness of her around him, his mind lost in the delicious sensations. She was grinding back at him with equal fervour.

He slid a hand around underneath her to reach for her clit, circling it deftly with one skilled finger. Sullana shook in his hands, gasping out. “Oh fuck, oh Sean, _fuck_ … you’re…” He grinned into her skin. “Damn right I am, and you’re going to take it all.” He came with a long low growl against her back. “That’s right, love. All mine.”


	16. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess helps her lover to find closure for his tormented past.

Sean tucked himself away again and watched as Sullana slid back into her jeans with a filthy smile on her features. She’d been trying to keep him distracted from focussing for too long on what they were undertaking with regular doses of endorphins, and it seemed to be working so far. The human was looking bolstered, his usual cocksure self again, with an easy relaxed grin. “D’you want to make the grand entrance, handsome? I’ll be right behind you, but I reckon it’ll do you good to exert a bit of dominance over this lot, I’m declaring it your territory after all.”

Sean blinked, confused. “My territory?” Sullana nodded.

“You were driven out from your home turf, I think it’s only right that I grant you the power to control what goes on here in future. I intend to make Diana blood bound to you. It’ll be a first in vampiric history I think, for a kindred to be bound to a human rather than the other way around, but the idea amuses me. She’ll be unable to move against you, and in turn will control the rest, they’ll all be at your mercy via her proxy.”

“Can you even do that?”

She levelled a frank look at him. “I’m their Goddess, Sean, I can do whatever the fuck I want. And most of all I want you safe, secure, and feeling in control. I want you to feel free to be able to return here whenever you want without fear of what may happen, knowing every undead in the area is under your thumb, regardless of whether I’m with you or not.”

A slow grin spread across the human’s face. “You cunning fucking bitch” he said with a laugh. “In the nicest possible way, of course.” He pulled her in for a kiss. “I fucking love you. What d’you need to do this then?” The Goddess sat back and drew a claw down her inner arm, bringing a bright bead of purple blood to the surface.

“A droplet of yours too, love,” she murmured. Sean handed over his arm wordlessly. He knew she wouldn’t allow it to hurt. She repeated the motion on his arm, it tingled but nothing more. Sullana picked up the droplet on her claw and deposited it in the drop on her own arm, then held her hand over Sean’s chest, eyes closed. He shuddered as he felt a wave of warmth seemingly rising up through his body then out through his chest into her hand. She removed the hand and hovered it over the bead of mingled blood. After a moment it shimmered slightly.

She dipped her finger in it then held the drop to his lips. He took the tiny drop on his tongue, feeling it tingle and burn slightly, but nothing more. “That’s just an extra bit of a boost for you for tonight, I’ll deal with the Diana part later. You have a tiny, short lived spark of divinity for now, and that will enable me to tie her to your control. The divinity will wear off in a few hours, but the tie won’t. That’ll be lifelong.”

She flipped his arm over to inspect his watch. “Not too long now, I can smell them accumulating downstairs. They smell scared, they can sense me nearby too. I want you to swagger down there and intimidate the fuck out of them, darling.” Sullana kissed him again.

The nightclub was heaving with assembled kindred, all on edge. They could sense something terrifying in the building, and whilst they didn’t want to be there at all, on the other hand they felt compelled and also didn’t want to leave. The curious push and tug was unsettling. Diana loitered near a platform at the back, she glanced at her watch nervously, then noticed a hush ripple out across the room as every kindred in the place fell silent and turned to stare at the platform.

Sean strode out, alone, radiating confidence, head held high as he stepped out before a room of at least a hundred assembled vampires. He relaxed a hip and surveyed the room coolly, allowing his head to tip ever so slightly to one side, exposing a glimpse of his mark from the Goddess with a smirk. Every creature in the place stood stock still, unsure what to make of this inexplicably powerful-seeming human.

One or two had a glimmer of understanding, they knew what bond marks were, many had given them to their retainers to ward them against attentions of other kindred, but this one was different. He smelled different, and his aura was distinctly strong. While they felt an understandable surge of hunger for his blood, fear held them back from acting on it.

Sean curled his lip in contempt, scanning the room. “Line up in rows.” He barked. The assembled creatures hastened to obey without knowing why. It was easier to look at them now. He stepped off the platform and stalked among them, peering at faces with a hard look. One or two flinched away from him. Eventually he stopped. “You.”

The vampire looked at him, unrecognising but afraid. “You don’t remember me, do you?” The creature shook his head slowly. Sean spun on his heel, turning his back on the kindred in contempt. “Come up here.” He walked back to the platform again. The kindred swayed in place, unsure. Sean turned around again and glared at it. “I gave you an _ORDER_!” he shouted, tendons straining in his neck. The vampire took a single step forward, then froze.

The Goddess emerged on the platform beside Sean. “I’d suggest you do as he says.” She said idly. “I won’t be pleased if you don’t obey him.” The vampire’s eyes went wide. Every being in the room fell to their knees save for Sean, who merely blinked and stood firm, still smirking.

“You, stand up and come here.” He reiterated shortly. The vampire struggled to his feet and approached, head held low. When he got in range, Sean grabbed him by his hair and forced him back to his knees again. “You killed someone very special to me,” he hissed close to his ear. “Time’s come for payback.” With that, he withdrew a holy water soaked cord from his belt and slipped it over the creature’s neck, it screamed at the contact and fell sideways to the floor, writhing in pain.

Sean aimed a vicious kick at its crotch. “Don’t think this evening is going to get less painful than that either, you fucker. Anything I do to you would never be enough, but right now, I think I’m going to give you as a gift…” he lifted the end of the thin cord and passed it over to the Goddess. “My love: for you. To do with as you will.” He stepped back and lounged back on a sofa to watch. Sullana yanked the cord upwards to pull the vampire to his feet, it screeched in pain.

“You hurt my human,” she hissed into his ear. “And I will never forgive you for that. This doesn’t usually hurt at all, in fact it’s generally an ecstatic experience for both of us, but this time… just for me. You’re going to feel every damn _second_ of this…” She slipped the cord off his neck and pulled him close by the hair, forcing his head back and exposing his burned neck.

She flung a glance in Sean’s direction, quick but subtle enough to be missed by anyone who wasn’t looking for it. He gave a subtle nod and gritted his teeth. It’d be the first time He’d experienced this without being in direct contact with her to help him withstand the force, but he’d had a shot of her divinity, perhaps that’d be enough. He tensed for the impact.

She bit down savagely, ripping into the vampire’s throat, purposefully making every nerve ending feel the pain instead of allowing it to numb and become pleasure. The creature screamed out. At the same instant she dumped the images from Sean’s mind into his, his eyes flew wide in understanding and his gaze locked with the human’s. Sean curled a lip in an unforgiving snarl.

The Goddess drank agonisingly slowly, drawing out the torment for the undead, as every nerve ending burned with pain. He felt the blood draining from his body and the tattered remains of his soul with it. He screamed until his lungs couldn’t draw breath and his vocal cords bled. The Goddess’s supremacy amplifying with each torturous swallow, her aura growing more overwhelming, every kindred in the place cowered back in terror where they knelt.

Sean remained on the sofa, on the surface retaining his façade of indifference, readying himself for what he knew would follow when the last drop of blood left the creature’s body. His hands clenched into fists. Sullana’s eyes flicked over to his in warning as she felt the power rising. Every kindred in the building was also feeding her essence with waves of belief. It was all about to surge exponentially, she hoped he’d be able to withstand it.

The vampire in her iron grip shuddered and went limp and its foetid soul was sucked dry with the last of its tainted blood, a flame bright explosion fuelled the Goddess’s aura and pulsed out in an invisible shockwave across the town. Every kindred in the building collapsed further to the floor, cringing in fear. One or two passed out entirely, mainly the neonates. The Goddess roared in triumph and the sacrifice’s corpse flared white hot then crumbled to ash. She stood, snarling, blood dripping from her fangs, rumbling a low threatening growl that reverberated around the room, glaring at the assembled kindred, feeling their belief pouring into her soul.

She felt full to overflowing, her power overwhelming. She managed to regain enough wits to glance across at where her lover sat, and was relieved to see him still conscious, sweating slightly but resisting far better than anything else in the room. She switched her attention to Diana, and beckoned with a single finger. The prince rose and stumbled across to her, fearing the same fate, but unable to resist the order nonetheless.

Sullana flicked her head to summon Sean as well, and he strolled over to her again ensuring he projected an air of self-assurance. Around the room, the assembled kindred slowly regained their feet and watched in fear. The Goddess drew a claw down Sean’s inner arm again and raised a single drop of blood, swiped it up then placed it on Diana’s lips. She simultaneously placed her other hand flat on the vampire’s chest, then drew it back as if removing something intangible. The prince shuddered at the loss of whatever it was.

The Goddess opened her hand, and floating above her palm was a tiny pulsing point of light, not bright, about the size of a grain of rice. Diana stared at it in confusion. The Goddess moved her other hand over it and it became encased in a layer of something else, pearlescent and moving like a tiny soap bubble. She held Sean’s gaze, he nodded almost imperceptibly, and she pressed it to his chest. He gave a slight shiver then smiled.

He stepped toward Diana and bared his throat at her. “C’mon, try some then.” She took a step back. He grabbed her arm and held her tight, she couldn’t resist and stopped where she was. “I dare you, take some, go on,” he growled. Her eyes darted around in confused fear, she opened her mouth uncertainly, then leant toward him, but got inches from his neck and recoiled, retching and in pain. Sean huffed in derision and dropped her arm, letting her fall to the floor.

“I own a piece of your soul now, I control you. I control this region. You lot…” he swept the room with a glare, “… all belong to me as well.”

The assembled kindred stared, rapt and fearful. “And if I want any of you to give yourselves up to the Goddess, you’ll do it. Not that you would have had a choice anyway. I’m setting the law _now_ ,” he continued. “No more killing of humans in this region, save for the usual: rapists, violent criminals and so on. They will be the only permitted humans to be removed. Any others are for drinking and leaving unharmed. Any transgressors will be dealt with by deadly force. Am I clear?”

There was a murmur of assent from the group. Sean snarled and screamed out. “I _SAID_ , AM I FUCKING _CLEAR_?” Diana flinched back from him and the chorus of assent was distinctly louder and more affirmative. Sean snorted derisively. “Right, now the lot of you… fuck off.” The assembled crowd fled in terrified silence. Diana retreated to behind the bar and cowered there, wide eyed.

Sean turned dismissively and walked off the platform. Sullana sauntered easily after him, waving a hand at the fire exit door to open it and silence the alarm as they left.

When they got back to the Carlton, Sullana tossed the keys across to Sean. She could feel his energy almost vibrating off his body, he was high on a power rush that he wasn’t used to, brimming with self-assurance and adrenaline. He was stalking like a predator, like she generally did, oozing power, and she found herself particularly turned on by that. She knew he could do with getting his foot down in the Carlton to let off some steam with a good blast.

She’d brought him here tense, nervous and afraid, and he was walking out like a fucking king. She settled down in the passenger seat and observed him quietly as he spun up the twin turbos, downshifted aggressively and mashed the throttle, launching the Carlton off from the junction wrestling against a twist of torque steer. Once he was cruising she slid her hand onto his thigh. “Did that feel good?”

He shot her a glance. “Damn fucking right it did, love.” He concentrated on the road again, chewing his lower lip, thinking. She gave him the space he needed, sitting in silence, her hand a reassuring weight on this thigh. He appeared to come to a decision. He pulled a sharp handbrake turn and headed back the way they’d come, before taking another road and heading off in a different direction again. They eventually pulled up in a deserted car park near the river. He let the car idle for a minute or two for the turbos to cool down properly, then stilled the engine.

She knew instinctively where they were, and remained silent, allowing her lover to work through his emotions in his own time. He took a breath and stepped out of the car, looked around and took a few steps forward, then stopped and waited for her to come level with him so he could take her hand, and proceeded onward.

They walked along the path next to the river, glinting in the moonlight. The high pitched twittering and chirping of daubenton’s bats skimming the water’s surface gleaning insects off the surface and drinking, just on the edge of hearing. Ahead of them a fox scurried across the path and into the undergrowth. Sean’s grip on her hand was tight, and he walked with grim determination.

After about ten minutes they came to a wooden bench and he stilled, staring at it. Sullana didn’t need to ask. His hand flexed and she loosened her own grip so he could let go of her, and hung back as he approached the bench. He laid a hand gently on the back of it, thinking, then stared at the dark river. After a while, his gaze returned to the bench. She could tell that tears were falling even from where she stood, watching in silence.

After a while he stepped back and re-joined her. His hand slid into hers naturally and they walked away. After a bit he stilled and pulled her to face him, then rested his head on her shoulder and sobbed as she stroked his back and gave him the comfort he needed. She kissed his cheek and held him close until his tears subsided. Sean lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Thank you.”

Sullana kissed his tear streaked face, then landed a soft kiss on his lips, cradling his head in her hands, then stroked his hair soothingly. “You’re in control now, you made good on your promise, he’s avenged, there wasn’t anything more you could have done at the time, love. You were lucky not to get killed yourself. He’d be proud of you.”

Sean nodded with a weak smile. “Thanks.” They carried on back to the car, Sean tossed Sullana her keys back and slid into the passenger seat. Back at the hotel she held him tight as he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next chapter is going to get a bit crossover-y with American Gods. Not entirely by design, but this is after all a fic about a Goddess, and it's already established in "Protection" that she mixes with other deities, and that they use her skills sometimes. At some point I wanted to show some of that, and lead into where we begin with "Protection," hinting at future events to come full circle. 
> 
> And it's kind of inevitable that if you're already doing a fic that's crossed over with a Neil Gaiman book in related works, that keeping other Gaiman gods as they are in his universe is going to make sense.


	17. Celestial calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Goddess is summoned to a different plane of reality when the gods of the earth detect a change in reality brought about by something, they're not sure what it is, except that it's not good, and Sullana may come in useful if things get political. 
> 
> We are beginning to align with a previous fic of mine, coming full circle...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so this chapter ended up crossing over with American Gods somewhat. After all, I always intended to show how the Goddess interacts with other deities, as it's been explained that she does in my first fic "Protection" (of which there are two versions: SFW and the NSFW re-write, which aligns with this fic better) More explanation at the end.

Sean woke the next morning to find himself still wrapped securely in the Goddess’s arms, she hadn’t left his side all night, and although she had woken first, she still held him. He tipped his head back to peer over his shoulder at her spooned behind him. “Thanks, love. For looking after me.” She kissed his shoulder and squeezed him in response. After a little while he wriggled free and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling, gathering his thoughts.

“Do you have any interest in wanting to try visiting your parents while we’re up here, or do you want to leave that for another time, or leave it altogether?” She was watching him intently. Sean shook his head.

“If I turn up with you they’ll just pull the old _‘oh we knew you were straight all along, met a nice girl and everything, we told you so.’_ They don’t approve of the whole bi/pan thing, they don’t believe it’s real. The poly bit would blow their fucking minds. And honestly even without you they’d still be insufferable. I’ve no desire to reconnect with them honestly. I’m happier without them. People have tried to tell me that’s wrong to think, and that I should go and bond with them or whatever. That’s bullshit. Sometimes you have to cut toxic people out of your life to good reason. You’re under no obligation to forgive anyone you don’t want to.”

Sullana nodded. “I’m sorry love, I didn’t mean it that way, just checking if you wanted to, just in case. I’m definitely not going to tell you to try to win them over, you know them better than I do. I’m here for you no matter what. We can head home again after breakfast if you want then?”

“Sounds good. Fuck knows what bollocks Abbie and that lot are getting up to in the garage without me,” he laughed.

She let Sean take the wheel back to London again, seeing as he loved any opportunity to drive the Carlton. Around the point they split off onto the M18 she twitched uncomfortably and gave a shudder. A quiet “fuck” escaped her lips and she frowned. Sean glanced across at her, concerned.

“What’s wrong, love?”

The Goddess pulled a disgruntled face. “Nnngh. I’m going to have to hop off for a little bit. Got something I need to take care of. You can take the Carlton home.” Sean was puzzled.

“When? Where? Need me to drop you off somewhere or something?” She laughed.

“Not necessary, just a supernatural thing,” she squeezed his thigh, reached across and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll meet you at home, not sure how long I’ll be though, could be a few minutes, hours or even a couple of days, depends what’s up. I’ll try to explain when I get home, just bear in mind, given the nature of things, it might not be easy to wrap your head around. God stuff.”

He nodded, trying to understand, “So…” but she cut him off with another kiss, snapped her fingers, and disappeared, leaving him alone in the car.

* * *

The Goddess materialised on the ethereal plane with a shudder and looked around. Bastet caught her eye first, gave a respectful nod and wandered off to talk to Hathor about something. Vanatur approached with a wide smile and open arms. “My Lady, welcome. I’d offer you some wine but alas, you do not feel able to share our pleasures even here.” The Goddess shrugged with a smile and gave him a brief hug back. He at least always made her feel welcome regardless, but she always felt like the odd one out up here.

Inanna gave her a knowing smile and a wink which The Goddess sometimes known as Sullana reciprocated, then headed toward the more tightly clustered group of deities a little distance away. Epona fell into step beside her companionably. “Haven’t seen you here for a while, My Lady, what brings you back?” Sullana shrugged.

“I’ve no idea but I’ve a feeling I’m about to find out. She noted Esus, his axe held casually over one shoulder, studiously ignoring her. Sobek and Thoth, as usual were stood side by side and stepped back to invite her into the group with a respectful nod. She noted Shiva and Brahma across on the other side of the group and smiled at them. Lakshmi and Kali stood behind them talking with Gundari.

With a jolt, she spotted Odin, it wasn’t the god so much as his companion which made her startle. He had a human at his side, the first time she’d ever seen one on this plane of reality. She suspected the man was just as surprised as he did not look at all comfortable with where he was. He was tall, muscular, handsome and clean shaven. She wondered what on earth Odin was thinking bringing him along. By the looks of it, several other deities were thinking along similar lines, judging by the dark looks they were surreptitiously casting in their direction.

Odin caught her gaze with a sly smile and lifted his drink in a silent toast in her direction, then returned to talking to Freyja. Anansi hovered nearby, his perfectly tailored suit accenting his lean frame. Eshu stood with the much maligned Ekwensu. She was glad to see he was still up here and not relegated elsewhere as some other religions had attempted to sideline him as a manifestation of Satan, which was not in fact the case.

Ọrunmila and Maat stood shoulder to shoulder with Mut and Nepit. There were a plethora of other deities from beliefs around the globe, some she was frankly surprised still clung on, but then you could find believers in the strangest places sometimes. Even just one could be enough to keep a god alive.

She slunk over to Odin and looked the accompanying human up and down frankly. Just then a tall muscular redhead stepped up next to the human with a beer in hand, and passed another to the human. The Goddess was mildly surprised to see Lugh here, no ‘Suibhne’ she recalled, or Sweeney. She gave him a smile. “Won’t you introduce me to your acquaintance, Sweeney?” The leprechaun grinned.

“This here’s Shadow Moon, Mr. Wednesday’s man. Shadow, meet Milady.” Shadow extended a wary hand, the Goddess shook it, at the touch flashing through his memories and thoughts, quirking an eyebrow in surprise. Sweeney gave her a disapproving look.

“Oi, none of that now, lassie, y’should know that’s rude around here, invadin’ the lad’s privacy like that.” The Goddess gave a short laugh

“Sorry, force of habit.” Shadow looked confused.

“What did she do?”

“Had a rummage in yer head boy.”

“It tingled”

Sweeney nodded. “Yeah, it’ll do that.” The Goddess dipped her head in apology.

“I’m sorry, you’re intriguing. You’re human.”

“Ey,” Sweeney began. “None of that, you got one of yer own down there at the moment anyway from what I hear, you leave this one be.”

The Goddess laughed. “Contrary to what you may believe, Sweeney, I don’t fuck everything that moves. Mr Moon is quite safe from me.” Odin turned around and raised a cynical eyebrow at her.

“Were that the same were true for all of us, My Lady” he said with a sardonic grin. The Goddess rolled her eyes at him. Shadow looked confused as she took her leave and walked away with a warning glance at Odin as she left.

“What did you say her name was?” Shadow enquired, confused. Sweeney laughed.

“I didn’t. She don’t have one. Up here she’s just ‘My Lady’, she picks one name or another for humans but I reckon she don’t often need to do that. If she gives you a name it means she likes you, but don’t worry, it’s us lot who’ve got more to fear from her than you have, you’re very little interest to her, except possibly as a plaything.”

“You fear her? What’s she the goddess of?”

Wednesday leaned in closer. “Nothing human. She’s not interested in you because you’ve nothing that she needs. Us on the other hand, well let’s just say there’s a cautious respect there. None of us are entirely sure what she’s capable of. She’s a vampire goddess, only takes supernatural blood. Now technically that _could_ include ours. No one has ever dared ask. She’s helpful now and then, she doesn’t rely on human worship to survive so she’s neutral ground as it were, a good intermediary in times of conflict as an arbiter of justice when two gods get angsty with one another. She can’t be said to have a vested interest in any of their worshippers.”

Wednesday gazed at her shapely curves as she slunk across to join another group of gods and sighed at a memory. “You treat her with respect, because no one is quite sure how powerful she might be. I sometimes wonder if that includes her. She certainly has no fear of any of us, she’s a bit of an unknown quantity. There isn’t another like her. She does deals with some of us from time to time. There’s some things she can’t do, like create life. When she wants a new corporation, a body, she tends to come to one of us and in return for certain favours, we’ll create her a new one.”

“Deals? What does she give you?”

“Belief and protection for our worshippers mostly. Belief that holy symbols will protect against vampires. She made them weak to the concept that holy articles can harm them. If humans believe that holy items can protect them from the undead, it boosts belief in us, so we get the benefit. She gets a little hand here and there with the things that she can’t do.”

Shadow watched the Goddess prowling around the gathering, feeling himself growing more captivated the longer he looked at her, until he heard Sweeney laugh next to him. “Lookit you, gettin’ all sidetracked there boyo. You want to leave well enough alone. ‘S’not your fault, it’s just the effect she has on folk, don’t blame yourself fer lookin’, but I’d give her a wide berth if I were you. Then again,” he said, taking a swig of his beer, “if she _does_ take a shine to you, she can be helpful, she’s a soft spot for humans sometimes, gets all protective over ‘em, she’s a good person tae have on yer side in a tight spot.”

* * *

The Goddess hung out at the edge of the assembled deities. Bastet slunk up next to her and slid an arm around her waist then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing her again. “Good to see you,” she murmured. The vampire Goddess gave her a quick smile but then inclined her head across to where Anubis stood with some of the other Egyptian gods.

“Probably best not do that when he’s around, you’ll only provoke him and that’s unfair. He’s a good person, he just didn’t like to share. Besides I’m currently owing him a rather large favour and I don’t want to offend him by rubbing it in.”

Bastet dipped her head in apology. “Sorry, I didn’t think, I just hadn’t seen you for a while. What favour do you owe him?”

“He saved my… someone important to me, a human, from John.”

“John, was he the demigod?”

Sullana nodded. “Yeah, him. He’s still creating trouble when he can. That guy knows how to hold a grudge, that’s for sure.”

Bastet nodded in understanding. “Well, if you ever need me to give you a hand, I’m happy to help as well, you know that, dear.”

Enlil stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Something is afoot. We don’t yet know what it is, but you may have noticed that a notable deity is absent from this meeting, I leave you to infer from that what you will. Their adversary appears to have made a move, but as yet we don’t know what exactly is going on. It has not been discussed with us, and we are endeavouring to gather more information. Things are… tense, shall we say. I have tried to make direct contact with the deity involved but they are not currently responding to any communication from any quarter, even their own creations, which leaves us in somewhat of a quandary.”

The ancient Babylonian god continued. “I don’t know yet what this involves, but I have a feeling that we all may need to work together, alien as that concept may seem to many of us. Time is fleeting, not all of us experience time in the same manner, it may be years on earth or the blink of an eye for some of us before anything escalates, but we don’t know what, where, when or even why.”

He pinned the vampire Goddess with a pointed look. “My Lady, if any situation may require investigation and intervention, it may be this one. We don’t know yet what action may or may not be needed, and I don’t know if we will be able to move fast enough when we _do_ find out what it entails, but we would take it as a personal favour if you might indulge us with the promise of your assistance should it become necessary? I realise that humans are not your remit per se, however they are important to your own worshippers. One cannot survive without the other.”

Sullana nodded in understanding. “I’m happy to do what I can to assist, just let me know when you have any new information.” Enlil nodded in thanks. The assembled deities broke up into smaller groups again, the vampire goddess found Odin at her elbow, surveying the others as he sipped his drink.

“What d’you suppose it is then?” he asked quietly, still looking ahead. The Goddess shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Humans in danger?”

“Seems so.”

“Might I… for old time’s sake, you understand… ask you to indulge me in…” She silenced him with a look, one eyebrow raised, expression unamused. Odin laughed and carried on. “No, not that, dear, I was going to ask if you might keep an eye on Mr. Moon for me? He is rather useful and I can’t always keep him as safe as I’d like. Don’t get me wrong, he’s resilient, but every little helps, eh?”

She looked at him frankly. “You sure?” Odin nodded.

“I would deem it a personal favour. You know I hold you in the highest esteem, dear.”

She huffed at the shameless flattery, he never changed, but nonetheless she stalked back over to where Shadow was conversing with Anubis, who appeared to know him already. She lightly touched Anubis’s arm as she came up beside him, dropping the knowledge of what she was about to do into his head. He looked at her with mild surprise then took a half step back, averting his gaze.

She made direct eye contact with the human, and allowed her aura to expand slightly, pushing out a wave of power only just large enough to envelop him and no one else. He stood stock still, uncomprehending, unsure what was going on, as she bit her lip, took a step toward him, laid a hand on his shoulder, then gave him the briefest of perfunctory kisses on the lips, then let him go again. “You may call me Sullana,” she told him, then turned to leave.

“What was that for?” he spluttered in confusion, but she was already gone. Sweeney reappeared at his side with a knowing grin.

“She just gave you the closest thing she has to a blessing, not to be sneezed at, that. I’ll wager Mr. Wednesday put her up to it, judging by that smirk on his face. ‘Tis an honour to be given a name to call her by, but best try not to use it, she don’t take kindly to frivolous summonings. If you’re truly up shit creek though, feel free to yell it as loud as yer like. She’s a good ally to have in a pinch.”

“If a god gives you a blessing does that make you one of theirs, am I supposed to worship her or something?”

Sweeney laughed loudly. “Feck no! Definitely not _her_ anyroad, it were just a favour, that’s all. She’ll lend you a hand if you need it, and seeing as pretty much everyone in here is scared of her, that’s something worth holding onto.”

“Looks like half of them in here are lusting after her” Shadow responded drily.

“Yeah, that too, few of ‘em have had her too,” Sweeny finished his beer and flung the empty bottle aside. It vanished.

“You?” Shadow asked.

“Heh, chance’d be a fine thing. Wouldn’t say no to her if she wanted me though.”

Sullana appeared to be surplus to requirements for now, she sought out Enlil to check. “Was there anything else you needed from me?” The Babylonian shook his head.

“Not at the moment, as we have little enough to go on, but I wanted to know we can call on you if the need arises.”

“You know you can. I’ll be getting back now then.”

He gave a small bow. “You have my thanks, My Lady.”

With a snap she was gone. It seemed that with the flexibility of time, about a day had elapsed, it was always strange like that. Sometimes what seemed like an eternity on the other plane could be minutes on earth, and vice versa, it never seemed to make any sense. She reappeared in her own home. The Carlton would be over at Sean’s of course, so she’d have to get him to bring it over at some point. She checked the time, he’d be finishing up at the garage by this time in the afternoon, so she texted him.

* * *

She heard the familiar rumble of her own car an hour or so later, accompanied by the familiar tug of connection with her lover that meant she could pinpoint him wherever he was, and flicked the kettle on ready for him. As he shrugged off his jacket and kicked off his boots in the hall, she was just pouring him a cup of tea in the kitchen. He came through and accepted the mug gratefully. “Thanks pet. All go ok then?”

She gave a one shouldered shrug. “It was all about as clear as mud really, had a bit of what you might call a team meeting with a few other gods, there’s something up, something brewing, it could take years or decades to come to fruition, but we don’t know exactly what, when, how or why, just that it could be significant. Sometimes these things can get a bit… political, so they’re just putting me on standby as it were in case they need my help with anything.”

“Your help? In what way?”

“I’m kind of an impartial third party up there. I’m not like the rest of them so they sometimes ask me to arbitrate in disagreements between other gods, in return I get a favour here and there if I need one myself, although admittedly that’s not very often.”

“So what do you have to do?” Sean sipped at his tea and leaned against the kitchen counter. Sullana took a seat at the kitchen table and continued.

“No idea until they ask me, could be surveillance, I can deploy the kindred to help with that if I need to – just order them to use their powers and report back to me, or I can do it myself. Might be getting information from people, or other deities. Could be a plain old chat, a seduction, or occasionally torture if the situation calls for it, a bit of smiting here and there. I’ve been used as an assassin before, never without justification. Never to settle scores, just to level the playing field and restore the status quo, when deities have overstepped their bounds and some kind of celestial war is threatened.”

Sean chuckled. “Seduction eh? Was that what I was?”

Sullana rolled her eyes. “Typical of you to latch on to that part of the entire thing. And no, you’re what you might call a personal project. Spur of the moment because your arse was too cute to let you get taken out by those kindred. Then you just kind of caught my interest.”

“Oh really?” He teased with a salacious smile and slow lick of his lips. “Any bit of me in particular that caught your interest then?” he sauntered over to her, hips loose, and set his mug aside on the table, and stood in front of where she sat, looking down at her expectantly.

“Honestly? All of you, although I’ll admit some parts are more alluring than others.” She reached out to take his slim hips in her hands, leaned forward and kissed his crotch through his tight jeans. Sean wound his hands into her long hair for a moment, then pulled her back.

“Probably not a good idea right now though love, been sweating my bollocks off all day in the garage, I’d better grab a shower first, then I’m all yours again. Reckon I owe you one for everything over the past few days.”

She looked at him seriously. “You owe me nothing, Sean, and I mean that. You’re your own man, you’re free to do as you want, and I don’t want you feeling obligated to me. You have your own life, you have other loves who need you probably more than I do. Don’t go neglecting them by spending too much time with me. I’ll be here for you no matter what, but don’t go thinking you owe me a single thing.” She stood up and kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

Sean squeezed her tight. “I love you too, my own personal Goddess. And I’m going to worship your body right after I get out of that shower.” He pinched her bottom, then downed the rest of his tea and headed upstairs for a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing as I always intended to show The Goddess interacting with other deities, this chapter ended up crossing over with another Neil Gaiman book, American Gods, which is only fair seeing as "Protection", my fic in which I first introduced the Goddess, is also a Good Omens fic, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. 
> 
> In "Protection", (NSFW version <https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515476/chapters/51283906>[>HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515476/chapters/51283906), and SFW version [ HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199874/chapters/50465618).) The Goddess mentions mingling with other deities and observing events unfolding around armageddon as occurs in Good Omens (averted by Aziraphale and Crowley). 
> 
> The events the gods are discussing here are that Crowlely has just been handed the Antichrist. They don't know that yet, all they know is that something is going wrong and they are trying to find out. 
> 
> Shadow Moon, Mr Wednesday (Odin), Mad Sweeney and Anansi are all directly from American Gods. Anubis is as well, although I also introduced him in his jackal form in an earlier chapter of this fic. The rest of the gods are from various pantheons around the world including Egyptian, African, Babylonian, Norse, Indian and others. 
> 
> I haven't ruled out a deeper crossover with American Gods in future, but it made sense for The Goddess to exist in the same universe as them as she's already in another Gaiman universe about religion. This is partly why She agreed to mark Shadow Moon so that she can help him if she senses him in trouble in future, as a favour to an old flame, Odin.


	18. Postscript

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter has brought us up to 11 years before Armageddon in the Good Omens universe, the ripple in reality that the deities detected was the event of Crowley being handed the Antichrist, even if they didn’t know at that point. They spent a confused decade trying to figure out what was going on to no avail, until the shit hit the fan. At which point they exerted what power they could to help Crowley and Aziraphale from behind the scenes, without being noticed or drawing attention. (As per events recounted in [ “Protection.”](%E2%80%9D)

**10 years later...**

Sullana bolted upright in bed, every nerve screaming, she could feel the universe twisting around her and everything began to make sense. She could feel four entities gathering.

“FUCK. Sean, _Sean_! Wake up. Something is happening, something bad. I have to go.” Her human lover blinked blearily up at her.

“Huh? Go where, love?” He was older now, his face a little more lined, but just as lean.

“Go wake up Morgan. _Shit_ , this is bad. This must be what they were trying to work out, it’s fucking starting. I have to go. I don’t know what to tell you, Sean. I love you but you might want to stay close with Morgan now, maybe call Phil, ask him to get over here too. This is probably not going to end well.”

She was yanking her clothing on in a hurry. Sean woke up fast and followed suit. “What the fuck do you mean?” Sullana stood and tugged on her boots. She met his gaze and he realised that there were tears welling in her eyes.

“I have to go up there again, work to do, and it’s bad. Like Armageddon bad. I mean it. Whatever you told yourself you’d do if you only had a day left to live, now’s the time to get it done. I might not see you again…” She stepped to him and kissed him deeply. “Thank you for everything, I love you, stay safe, I’ll do what I can.” She stepped back, and disappeared. Sean went to Morgan’s bedroom to wake them, then texted Phil.

The Goddess observed the chaos alongside the rest of them, watched as a select few nudged fortune in the way of those that needed it as events unfolded. She felt helpless, as did many of the rest. The atmosphere was tense to say the least as they walked a fine line of theistic politics. It was too late for Sullana to be deployed in any meaningful manner, it had all emerged too quickly to intervene without notice.

A collective sigh of relief was breathed when the situation diffused at last, the Antichrist reset reality. Attention turned to the beings who had helped steer the world away from Armageddon.

Mut spoke out first. “They’ll be executed for what they did, we all know it.” There was a murmur of agreement.

Hathor nodded regretfully. “It seems a shame. Their superiors are not big on forgiveness, but what can we do?”

Enlil drew a deep breath. “Us? Nothing. We dare not. We are bound as ever not to intervene, we cannot interfere with other deities’ creations or worshippers. You know this. It’s out of my hands. It seems harsh, I know. They just saved all of our worshippers from annihilation. For all their faults, they have love for the world and its occupants, all of them. Even the one who shouldn’t be able to – he still does also.” He exchanged a glance with Gundari and a few others. “They need protection.”

“Can we do that?”

“No, of course not!”

“Then why even suggest it?”

Enlil drew a small knowing smile. He glanced sidelong at Sullana. She gave him a long appraising look and pursed her lips, considering. The others continued to bicker, not noticing the unspoken communication between Enlil and the vampire Goddess. Finally she gave a subtle, stiff nod in his direction. Enlil gave the merest hint of a smile in return. She turned to go, then thought again and stalked back to his side, the assembled deities looked at her questioningly.

“If I should require any assistance with any… future endeavours I might be undertaking. I’d like to know if I can count on backup when needed from all of you? Several of you are already beholden to me, I may need to call in a favour or two. But the rest of you, well, consider me indebted to you in advance.”

Sobek was a little slower on the uptake than the rest, he looked confused. “What activities?” Thoth rolled his eyes at him in exasperation and shook his head slightly. Sullana shrugged.

“Anything I might choose to get up to in the immediate future, nothing specific.” Understanding dawned as Sobek caught up with the rest of the deities with a slow nod. Sullana gave him a small smile, nodded at the assembled gods, and disappeared.

* * *

Sean kicked his boots off in the hall and sauntered through to the kitchen, flicking through the post as he did so. It had been a few weeks since Armageddon failed to happen. He found Sullana at the kitchen table, signing paperwork. “Hi love, what’s that you’re working on?” She looked up and met his lips with hers as he bent over her.

“Not much, work stuff. The lease on a flat in Soho for a bit. I’ll need to leave you with Morgan and Phil to keep you entertained for a while, got a job to do. Not sure how long it’ll take yet though.”

“Huh, what kind of work then?” He wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder where he could bury his nose in her neck and give her little kisses there.

“Kind of post Armageddon damage control. A bit of surveillance, a bit of personal protection work. Possibly a seduction, I won’t know until I see how it pans out. It’s all pretty unclear right now what will be needed until it happens.”

“This for you or another god?” Sean nuzzled into her neck a bit more. The seductions didn’t bother him, he was content sharing his lovers provided everyone knew the boundaries.

“For everyone, ultimately. I’ll tell you when I know more, love. I’ll be starting in a few days. I’m sure you’ll be fine without me for a bit.” She turned her head to kiss him properly again. “But I’m taking the Carlton with me, so you don’t get to pinch her for joyrides while I’m gone.” Sean mock pouted at her then broke into a grin again.

“Eh, I’m sure I’ll live. You take care, beautiful. Love you.” Sullana stroked his hair affectionately.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok I realise this one took a long time, but we have finally come full circle with The Goddess's backstory, and right up to the moment where she is about to set out to meet Crowley at the beginning of "Protection", which was my first ever fic. It's a Good Omens fic taking place after the failed armageddon, where Crowley and Aziraphale have survived holy water and hellfire, but are afraid of what heaven and hell may try next. 
> 
> The other deities, recognising that they are valuable guardians of the Earth, and grateful to them for saving it on their behalf, assign The Goddess to help protect them, which is what she is about to do. You can continue reading [ HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515476/chapters/51283906) (NSFW re-write). Although the initial SFW version is [ HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199874/chapters/50465618) but I think if the sex in "Blood and Love" is ok with you, the NSFW version of "Protection" will be more your cup of tea. Past the first section, there isn't actually that much sex in it anyway. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this one, thank you for reading, I realise it's not as good as the rest of my stuff, but it's been a personal project that I wanted to complete, as I've had Sullana in my head for about 25 years now I think, and her story deserved to get out. I love that I was able to weave her into a Good Omens fic as well. 
> 
> I know that in "Hunting Ealing" (sequel to "Protection"), Sean comes accross as a bit annoying, he's just grown bolshy and relaxed around his Goddess lover, he's pretty bratty, and she loves that in him, even if others don't. I wanted to tell his backstory as well so he's not such a one dimensional character. He has his reasons for what he does, for how he behaves, for why he loves her, why he's stuck with her and her with him for so long, why she's so protective of him. 
> 
> Anyhow, all finished now, and back to writing normal Good Omens stuff again!


End file.
